PSAs are different now

On occasion as a father, you see things where your kids are concerned that make you take pause.

Sometimes you’re delighted, sometimes you’re horrified. Your jaw drops, you’re giddy, you shake your head back and forth and sigh. (Parents do this a lot.) You don’t understand how such simple concepts can get lost on youth. Something flashes by you and you have no clue, no point of reference of what you just saw.

Often, however, all these things have a common denominator: They make you wonder.

Take public service announcements (PSAs) for example: They sure have changed since I was in school. In the days of yore, the likes of films such as Red Asphalt were supposed to “shock and awe” school-aged children:

This little gem hung around for what seemed like ages, from 1960 when it was first introduced to kids who were ready to get behind the wheel right on through the late 70s. It spawned quite a few sequels, too.

Now?

Again: How times have changed.

We get everything from cutesy-wootsey to shock so blatant and graphic you can’t help but recoil. Some of todays PSAs can assault you — visually with their overt and over-the-top depictions, aurally with explosive tones. At times they practically splatter in your face … and they could if committed to garish 3D at a theater near you. (Thankfully, that’s something that hasn’t happened yet. Yet …)

Let’s start out slowly, though, and work our way up the “What the hell was that?!?” chain … or down it, as might be the case. Comedian Bruce Baum (I knew him as Bruce “Babyman” Baum as a young lad) put this nifty little video together. Not only is it smart but it hits home with the teen contingent. How do I know? Because there was a gleam in my daughter’s eye when I first showed it to her. Oh … it wasn’t a “That was the coolest thing ever!” kind of gleam — more so it was a “Dad, that was just weird” sort of eye roll. But I watched her as she viewed it and I caught her stifling chuckles. She may not have wanted me to know she thought it hip … but I know it was:

Rather straightforward and complete with the requisite injection of humor, yes? As well, informative. Without being condescending.

Now, let’s get to the real cutesy: I don’t know about you, but less than halfway through this jewel of a cartoon for Australia’s rail service I was tapping my foot in time to the music. It not only has an infectious, catchy beat but it endears you with its loveable animated figures … despite the fact each one meets his or her demise. (For the record, my two favorites are the skeleton (so converted when it sticks a fork in a toaster) and the rhythmic dance moves of the kidney donor:

Don’t be fooled: They may be adorable, they may have rhythm … BUT THEY’RE DEAD, folks. They died. They all experienced a terrible fate, some more terrible than others.

Is this what it takes to get kids to pay attention? Catchy tunes and choreographed animation? Yes … in a world where attention spans gloss over in mere seconds, that’s often what it takes. What happens, though, is you get to thinking about the video. You want to watch it again with friends and family and whoever-have-you and, suddenly, you find yourself paying more attention than you did the first time around.

Lastly, there’s this piece of work from the same Aussies who brought you the video above. It speaks for itself with music to pull you in and engage you (though in a completely different manner) … and then with its awfulness, which is right out of some horrific blood and guts film.

Ready? Here you go:

The gamers who thrill to Halo and Call Of Duty might not be shocked by this stuff but, on first view, most everyone else might be taken aback. Because the video is not only in your face, it’s unrelenting in its severity … and a far cry from Red Asphalt.

Talk about taking pause …