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Earworm Indian PSA warns against street-shitting
09.29.2017
07:23 am
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I had no idea that just dropping a deuce in the streets was a thing in India, and I probably wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t read the statistics on UNICEF’s “Poo2Loo” website.

According to UNICEF’s figures, about half the population of India uses toilets, with “more than 620 million still defecating in the open.” Almost 70 percent of the population in rural India have no access to toilets.

That’s half the population dumping over 65 million kilos of poo out there every day. If this poo continues to be let loose on us, there will be no escaping the stench of life threating infections, diseases, and epidemics.

Apparently, the amount of human excrement that people come into direct contact is causing a public health crisis, and in an effort to educate the Indian public on the necessity of using toilet facilities, UNICEF has come up with the most unbelievably insane PSA of all time.
 

 
“Take the Poo to the Loo” is not only one of the most bizarre PSAs I’ve ever seen, it’s also got one of the catchiest songs. In fact, this thing is a straight-up jam that’s likely to be stuck in your head for days after just one listen. The animation in the clip is also top-notch. The entire thing is extremely well done in spite of how utterly crazy it might seem.

In the climax of this completely bonkers video, the residents of the town build a gigantic disco toilet and throw a “Poo Party,” in which all of the poo (that had been antagonizing people in the streets) congregates and dives in. The townspeople summarily flush all of the poo down the disco toilet just before instructions appear on screen allowing you to make “Take the Poo to the Loo” your ringtone.
 

 
The first time I watched this thing, I was taken aback at the opening line which is “First thing in the morning, what do I see? A pile of shit staring at me.” It just gets weirder from there. I almost lost my shit (no pun intended) when the Indian “happy birthday” crap rap started. This is seriously the best song I’ve heard in 2017.

See for yourself, after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Christopher Bickel
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09.29.2017
07:23 am
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Super-strange 1978 PSA film might give you an acid flashback
04.12.2016
09:16 am
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“Safety Woman” from the school safety video “Safety: In Danger out of Doors” from 1978.
 
This late 70s school safety video is full of so much weirdness that it’s hard not to feel like you’re suddenly having an unplanned acid trip while watching it.

In this short film from 1978 menacingly entitled Safety: In Danger out of Doors, we meet the fictional character Miss Karen Kingsley, who the narrator describes as “a youthful, gifted, attractive, successful, freelance architect” who spends her free time volunteering as a school crossing guard. The fourteen-minute PSA plays out much like a lost B-movie when the multi-talented Miss Kingsley somehow becomes “Safety Woman,” a shiny-jumpsuit-wearing superhero (who came to be thanks to some sort of sketchy divine alien “interaction”), that shows up just in time to save her accident prone school-age pals from certain death. If this video had been made in the 80s, that jumpsuit would have reeked of Enjoli perfume for sure. Check out all the possible scenarios that put children of the 70s in peril, like skateboarding or swimming—which we (or at least most of us, I suppose) somehow miraculously survived—after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Cherrybomb
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04.12.2016
09:16 am
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I am betting this 1979 ‘Star Wars’ themed PSA warning against drunk driving dissuaded no one
07.20.2015
12:05 pm
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I’m calling you a cab!!!
 
Driving under the influence of alcohol has not always been so frowned upon as it is today. In fact, there was once a time when “too drunk to drive” referred to such a deficit of impairment, you pretty much had to be unconscious behind the wheel to even raise an eyebrow. It wasn’t actually until the late 1970s that the law started to take drunk driving more seriously, but even then the more stringent standards for sobriety were met with resistance; groups like MADD were perceived as a bunch of busybodies and spoilsports, and public opinion was slow to recognize that it took far less alcohol to compromise a motorist than previously thought. Obviously this made for a lot of goofy public service announcements!

In 1979, the United States Department of Transportation’s National Highway and Safety Administration produced this little gem, which reworked the Star Wars cantina scene (complete with music) to promote the buddy system—“friends don’t let friends drive drunk.” Of course, they weren’t able to secure any major characters, but Wookieepedia informs me that the intoxicated alien is of the Talz race, while his Durosian friend keeps him safe from harm by taking the keys(?) to his YT-1300 light freighter and driving them both home.

Hear that? That is the sound of a million nerds finding plot holes in a non-canonical space opera-themed drunk driving public service announcement!
 

Posted by Amber Frost
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07.20.2015
12:05 pm
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Grace Jones asks ‘It’s 10 PM. Do you know where your children are?’ 1979
06.05.2015
09:28 am
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“It’s 10 p.m. Do you know where your children are?” spots have long been a mainstay of local NYC television news broadcasts. I haven’t lived there since 2007, but I would imagine that they still are.

When model-singer-actress-whatever she wants to be Grace Jones taped this brief PSA for WNEW-TV in New York way back in 1979, the talk in the studio afterwards was no doubt along the lines of “Now, THAT should get their attention.”

Jones, now 67, returns to New York this summer, headlining the annual AfroPunk NYC Festival, set to take place August 22nd and 23rd at Brooklyn’s Commodore Barry Park, along with Lenny Kravitz and Lauryn Hill.
 

 
Via Lady Bunny Blog

Posted by Richard Metzger
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06.05.2015
09:28 am
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Wild at the Wheel: 1970’s driving safety film makes you want to get funky and drive with caution
11.17.2014
09:01 am
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Wild at the Wheel
 
Part cautionary tale, part psychoanalysis of the 1970’s bored suburban teen, part strait-up fusiony funk throw-down, the film below, called Wild at the Wheel, fictionally explores the sad case of decidedly handsome, deceased 1970’s teen epitome Tom Robinson. Known by his friends as “Speedy” for reasons that become obvious, Tom’s silky, loosely buttoned western shirts and even silkier flowing golden locks earn him lots of chicks, but his hubristic need to constantly put the pedal to the metal proves to be his undoing.  After months of highway showboating and increasingly sporadic road theatrics, Tom finally rolls his beautiful, vintage forest green Mustang over a California cliff while trying to change the radio station. What could have caused this tragedy?

Wild at the Wheel is narrated by a local traffic investigator who’s taken an interest in the story partly because he happened to be Tom’s tight-shorted, side-burned softball coach before the tragic accident took place. This curly-haired funk detective’s got all kinds theories about what drove Tom over the edge, as it were. Was Tom compensating because he didn’t make first baseman at softball tryouts the other day? Was it Tom’s own aggressively driving father that set a poor example about masculinity and power? Or was it because Tom got turned down for that raise by his boss at the local drug store? All valid questions, but one thing we do know for sure from watching the film is that it clearly wasn’t Tom’s lack of tail that was causing him to drive like a maniac. He’s pretty much up to his eyeballs in smiling, feather-haired ladies throughout this whole thing.   

And then there’s the soundtrack. It just seriously makes you want rock out and form a Return to Forever cover band immediately. As one astute YouTube commenter mentions, the (at times) vaguely Goblin-esque soundtrack features a dirgey funk ballad called “Confunktion,” a smooth KPM stock recording by Dave Richmond that kind of kicks ass, leaving you confused about how to feel, especially since it shows up just as the paramedics are hauling off Tom’s bloody carcass. I was also able to identify another Dave Richmond track that appears later called Phase Out, also a piece of KPM stock recording and also ass-kicking. If there’s one unintentional takeaway from the film, it’s that awesomeness was in no short supply when it came to cheap, funky library scores in the 1970’s. 

Look, as Wild at the Wheel attempt to make clear, reckless driving is no laughing matter, especially when it involves hunky teens taken from us far too soon. On the other hand, this clip is pretty goddamned hilarious. Please refrain from watching it on your phone while driving!
 

Posted by Jason Schafer
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11.17.2014
09:01 am
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‘VD is for Everybody’: Confusing PSA that kinda makes venereal disease sound like fun!
11.12.2014
10:13 am
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American Social Health Association was founded in 1914 to deal with “social diseases”—what a great euphemism for STDs, eh?—and was frankly, a much needed intervention for an absolute epidemic of venereal disease in the US at that time. Some estimates submit that up to 80% of New York City men had already been infected with gonorrhea at some point. Early efforts of ASHA focused on prostitution and the military—a combination that has historically produced major sexual health crises—but by the 1960s, the focus shifted to the civilian population. 

Enter , “VD is for Everybody,” the most confusing sexual health campaign I’ve ever seen. Alongside the National Advertising Council, ASHA produced this 1969 short to emphasize the growing ubiquity of venereal disease—thanks, sexual revolution! I can only assume the spot is a surreal attempt at irony, because if one were judging from the song styling and video-editing alone, this PSA reads like an advertisement for VD. In fact, it kind of makes VD look awesome! Seriously—look at all those happy, attractive, seemingly healthy people! They’re doing ballet, riding horses, having babies…being babies?!?

I half expected it to end with, “Ask your doctor if VD is right for you!”
 

Posted by Amber Frost
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11.12.2014
10:13 am
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No fun! ‘Halloween Safety’ video from 1977 is a major buzzkill
10.10.2014
12:12 pm
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Here’s a PSA from 1977 put out by Centron Educational Films called “Halloween Safety” that literally drains all the joy out of Halloween in about eleven minutes. The video is a copy of the original 16mm film that a blogger by the name of Jason Willis, who appeared in the film when he was seven, spent some time tracking down in order to see his fourteen-second cameo. Jason also provides some cool backstory on the loopy PSA on his blog, Scar Stuff. (It’s probably worth mentioning that Herk Harvey, the principal director at Centron, also directed cult classic Carnival of Souls.)

The long list of no-no’s on this vintage reel include not wearing black clothing, not wearing a mask, not eating candy (it’s going to be tainted anyway so why bother), no running, no pranks and for the love of god DON’T dress up like a traditional witch! It’s dangerous.
 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Herk Harvey’s ‘Carnival of Souls’

Posted by Cherrybomb
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10.10.2014
12:12 pm
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‘80s anti-drug PSA makes you wanna snort blow off a chicken’s butt
09.23.2014
01:57 pm
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Dammit, I knew I shouldn’t have clicked play on this clip of a bizarre anti-drug PSA from the 80s. Any song titled “The Chicken Club” is a sure-fire recipe for an all day earworm. You can tell from a distance, can’t you? I’ve been humming and tappin’ my toes to this catchy lil’ tune all day. I hate myself for it.

The message I’ve taken away from this video and song is, if you don’t do drugs you can do some awesome variations of “The Roger Rabbit” / “The Cabbage Patch” and, you know… you just gotta join the “Chi-chi-chicken Club!”

Are you a “chicken” for not doing drugs? That’s a bit of a mixed message, yeah?
 

 
via Death and Taxes

Posted by Tara McGinley
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09.23.2014
01:57 pm
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This anti-drug PSA might actually encourage kids to take drugs
08.08.2014
02:55 pm
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This—let’s face it, kinda hilarious—anti-drug PSA is supposed to discourage people from taking drugs (MDMA) at this year’s Labor Day weekend Electric Zoo (New York’s Electronic Music Festival).

In fact, the festival is planning to make “all concertgoers watch a short PSA before attending.”

Now I’ve watched this PSA several times and I don’t think it’s going to have any effect on anyone. At all. It may even encourage more of “pass me the Molly, please.” The guy is just full of love. I could see lots of folks wanting to feel exactly this way. Besides, he just wanted to touch the lady’s hair. I mean, she does have nice hair.

At the end it says “Don’t miss the moment.” Are they talking about this guy? He’s so in the fucking moment that it hurts.

 
via Village Voice

Posted by Tara McGinley
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08.08.2014
02:55 pm
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‘Ashes of Doom’: This ‘Dark Shadows’-inspired 1970s anti-smoking PSA makes me want a cigarette
06.02.2014
10:22 am
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By the time this national Film Board of Canada anti-smoking PSA came out in 1970, Dark Shadows was already so popular it had begat a Canadian copycat, Strange Paradise. I’m not knocking it, by the way. Strange Paradise definitely retains some of the charm of its predecessor, and I’d recommend it wholeheartedly for fans of DS. I’m just saying it’s difficult to believe that “Ashes of Doom” wasn’t intentionally parodying the creepy/romantic style of those supernatural soap operas. (The short was created by Don Arioli and Grant Munro, by the way—Munro created “Toys,” the brutal stop-motion short made from GI Joes.)

While I applaud the Canadian government’s sense of humor (and their awareness of the latest trends!) there are a couple of reasons why I don’t think this film stopped anyone from smoking. First of all, the one minute and 55 second short starts with 53 seconds of credits—that’s definitely time enough light up, or at least resent the film enough to want to smoke out of spite. Second of all, while it’s a good bit of slapstick, the minute-long skit doesn’t really show any negative connotations of smoking. It ends with the protagonist’s smokey lungs mildly inconveniencing a vampire, which would actually be a really excellent incentive to smoke if you were a Gothic soap opera heroine. O Canada, what you lack in effective public health initiatives, you make up for in good-natured satirical farce.
 

Posted by Amber Frost
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06.02.2014
10:22 am
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Colorado’s new marijuana DUI PSAs and the YouTube comments they inspired…
03.11.2014
01:00 pm
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Earlier this month, the Colorado Department of Transportation rolled out a series of PSAs to discourage folks from driving while they’re stoned. While I agree no one should drive while they’re high—hell, I don’t think people should even drive while taking Benadryl, cold/ flu medications, painkillers or especially too much coffee—these commercials seem pretty silly to me. The stereotypical dum-dum stoner is in full effect here.

I posted all three commercials here for your viewing pleasure. I also added some choice comments from the general public from the YouTube comments. I’m not endorsing these comments, I am merely stating “here they are” and “make of this what you will.”
 

- Nobody gets high alone, bullshit PSA nobody will relate to. 

- I call bullshit.  Potheads don’t buy T-Bones, they buy double cheeseburgers and more pot.

- Apparently being stoned on marijuana magically reduces your to cognitive abilities to that of a chimpanzee.  Who knew. 

- I inject 4 marijuanas, now i punch babies for fun.

- Hey CDOT, if you want marijuana consumers to listen to you, I’d suggest talking to them like the rational, normal adults they are instead of insulting them.

- Well I don’t know what drug he was on cuz it definitely wasn’t weed…

- I’ve never broken something or forgot to do an important step, while high. This commercial makes us look stupid.

- The stoner stereotype bullshit is insulting. Keeps perpetuating that people that smoke look and act like this. Fuck the marketing team that came up with this.

- There is a difference between being high and having down’s syndrome.

- Wow!! this is EXACTLY what being high is like!

- What a totally insulting stereotype they are building in the publics’ mind that anyone who uses cannabis becomes borderline retarded. Folks who doesn’t know better must think you automatically lose 40 IQ points afterwards. What a shame, as it has inspired so much art, beauty, and productive work by responsible users, who are unjustly subjected to this demonetization.

- Isn’t it great when people who don’t blaze it act like they know what it’s like?

The spelling mistakes were left “as is” and like I was saying “make of it what you will.”

Posted by Tara McGinley
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03.11.2014
01:00 pm
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‘Graffiti: Fun or Dumb?’: 1976 PSA is, like graffiti itself, fun and dumb
01.27.2014
11:40 am
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Graffiti: Fun or Dumb?
 
This stern, cheerful, inane PSA from Counselor Films about graffiti says a lot of things that are mostly true, and yet doesn’t seem to get anything right at all. The graffiti depicted in the video (some of it concocted for the video, of course) is indeed a blight in visual terms—it’s hard to argue the point. Either they didn’t know that some graffiti can be aesthetically appealing or the “golden age of graffiti” hadn’t really happened yet—I suspect it’s a bit of both.

Meanwhile, the need to express oneself, the benefits of outlaw behavior, the fundamental need for protest—you won’t hear about any of that here.
 
Graffiti
 
The video features a sublimely silly pop song that suggests what might have happened if your parents had descended into the rec room and wrested control over Rod Torfulson’s Armada:
 

Hey is it fun or just dumb?
Yes, either it’s fun or just dumb
You know there are kids in school
Some of them break the rules
Hey is it fun or just dumb?
Maybe what they’re doin’s funny
Maybe it may look that way
But maybe if it’s costin’ money
I wonder what it’ll cost—who’s gonna pay?
Hey is it fun or just dumb?
Yes, either it’s fun or just dumb
Either it’s fun or just dumb

 

 
From A/V Geeks

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
‘Bad Graffiti’: Vulgar, juvenile, misspelled & ignorant wall scrawlings from Detroit (NSFW-ish)
Graffiti pioneer Stay High 149, R.I.P.

Posted by Martin Schneider
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01.27.2014
11:40 am
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Hilarious anti-drugging and driving commercial from New Zealand
09.16.2013
02:43 pm
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I normally can’t stand child actors, but the trio of kiwi kiddies assembled for this anti-drugs and driving PSA are comedic geniuses. They’re like Trailer Park Boys level funny… Perfect timing.

I guarantee these kids are going to get their own TV show.
 

 
h/t reddit

Posted by Tara McGinley
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09.16.2013
02:43 pm
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‘Four little Indians on LSD’: Anti-drug PSA pulled for scaring the crap out of kids in 1972
03.04.2013
02:25 pm
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image
 
I was lil’ too young—just an infant at the time—to remember this powerful anti-drug PSA which aired on American TV circa 1974, but according to what I’ve read online about this spot (with such a catchy tune!) is it pretty much had to be pulled immediately for scaring the shit out of children.

It’s still strong stuff.
 

 
Via Everlasting Blort

Posted by Tara McGinley
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03.04.2013
02:25 pm
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Are Georgia’s new PSAs targeting childhood obesity crossing the line?

image
 
Childhood obesity—or just general obesity in America—is a really, really controversial and sticky subject on the Internet. The subject can barely be discussed in broad terms without people getting personally offended if they themselves are heavy, so I try to remain somewhat non-committal about the topic. Commenting about something that many people would consider a health matter, to others is seen as harshing on the way they look.

Do I think these PSAs are crossing a line? I don’t know. I’ll sidestep that and let you guys hash it out in the comments.

From the description on YouTube:

We can’t continue to ignore the fact that Georgia has the second highest rate of childhood obesity in the country. We must open our eyes and look around: Kids are now suffering from diseases once seen only in adults. How do we save the next generation of Georgia’s kids? Working together through long-term change. First, we must come together as a community and talk about it.

 

 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Tara McGinley
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01.03.2012
02:44 pm
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