What are some unique public service announcements from your country?

11 comments

1. In the 2000s, 60% of French women used the contraceptive pill which seems to be a percentage way higher than the rest of the world

   It did pose some public health issues because not taking the pill at the same hour every day will reduce its efficiency, so on TV there were PSAs about taking your pill on time every day.

   I remember one where a woman was taken hostage by robbers in a bank with other customers, and she managed to take her pill on time in that situation. The conclusion was something like: “if you can’t take your pill at regular hours every day, talk to your doctor about an alternative”

   Edit: [found it!](http://www.culturepub.fr/videos/inpes-contraception-braquage/)

2. Iceland has had a policy of linguistic purism since the 19th century, the government has actively promoted efforts to preserve the language from foreign influence and loanwords, often promoting the use of invented words instead.

   In 1994 this [PSA](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=avk4ZpcgH78&pp=ygUow6Egw61zbGVuc2t1IG3DoSBhbGx0YWYgZmlubmEgc3ZhciB0ZXh0aQ%3D%3D) was shown on television. It has since been played annually during holidays.

   The video is surprisingly “Soviet” in its patriotism and the lyrics emphasise that Icelandic will always be enough for you to express yourself, and that no one can keep italive but us the viewers.

3. In the Netherlands we have SIRE (Stichting Ideële Reclame, or Foundation Ideal Advertising), a foundation focused on creating awareness and improving behaviour. It sounds a little propagandist when I explain it this way, but they’re usually just little humorous commercials that make you think. SIRE was founded in the sixties and their commercials reflect public issues over the years. They’re notable for having catchphrases.

   I believe there was a recurring psa in the nineties telling you to [CW: not stunt with fireworks](https://youtu.be/qooJ1an6LAQ) showing that you can lose fingers or limbs if you’re not careful. Some of these commercials ended up being rather creepy. The phrase “je bent een rund als je met vuurwerk stunt” is still quite common today.

   There’s one urging men to [participate in family life](https://youtu.be/lePtsc9nOaU) and to not only show up on Sundays to cut the meat for dinner.

   My favourite is the series from 2002 about indifference and egoism in society. It’s called [“de maatschappij, dat ben jij”](https://youtu.be/QPcC7lPSZZ0) (the society, that’s you). This commercial shows a girl not wanting to trade places with an elderly woman, calling her a graftak (funeral spray, an offensive way to say relic) in the process. The contrast between the style and what is being said is very funny.

   The current one is against [polarisation.](https://youtu.be/4SeBmfbA0kU) It’s basically telling people to not let their opinions on controversial topics (vaccines, immigration) tear their family/friendship apart.

4. I remember one that used to be shown quite a lot in the cinema after 20:00, it was a wall where you could see a person carrying a crying baby. They try to soothe it but fail, the person gets frustrated and starts shaking the baby, then there is a big splash of blood on the wall.

5. The first one that comes to my mind is a [TV-ad](https://youtu.be/_L_YDTQRbTc) for proper cardboard recycling from at least the mid-2000s. It’s a circular canon of a woman and a child singing “Karton wird aus Holz gewonnen/und Holz wächst wieder durch richtiges Recycling/wird aus Karton Karton

   Translates to: Cardboard is made from wood/and wood regrows/through correct recycling/cardboard turns into cardboard

   I still catch myself singing the tune even years later.

6. I still remember back in the 80’s the “[How many oranges did you eat today?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE1Qqhq8QBU)” commercial, which was advocating about the health benefits of oranges. Apparently Greece was overproducing oranges and these needed to be consumed 🙂

   Edit: I also recalled the “[No garbage, No plastics in seas and shores](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYr6U3bPQYg)” commercial which was advocating about keeping our seas clean of garbage.

7. CSDD (Road Safety… office thing) in Latvia tend to have pretty fun videos:

   [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60wYgOQTXrU&ab_channel=CSDDLatvia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60wYgOQTXrU&ab_channel=CSDDLatvia) __we are zombies behind the wheel__ – against using of phones while driving (this one is fairly recent)

   [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4OR9fYjEAU&ab_channel=CSDDLatvia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4OR9fYjEAU&ab_channel=CSDDLatvia) – an older one (some 20 years ago?) aimed at children to use safety belts (even kids today know of the song :3 )

8. A long, long, loooong time ago (1960-‘70’s), the government wanted us to drink more milk, because we had way too much of it.

   Joris driepinter (George Three-pints), a sort of Superman/Popeye figure that had special powers after drinking milk, was invented to promote milkdrinking. There were commercials, cartoons etc. with his adventures.

9. [If Gervásio the chimp can separate recyclables, so can you](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9Frmy9oqE8) was a pretty popular campaign from 2000 to get people to separate their waste.

   [Prioritise life](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QbVVvLzVXo) was a campaign for safer driving. In it, a junkyard owner shows wrecked cars and describes the accidents that destroyed them in a very non-chalant way. The “This one fell asleep… and never woke up again” line said in an almost cheerful way was pretty much a meme in its time.

   The same agency for safe driving had another campaign where they showed real people, handicapped by a driving accident, struggling to perform a simple task in an uncut, full-length shot. No dialog, except in the end when they say “the next time you [dangerous road behaviour], remember [person in video]”. [The next time you speed, remember Helder](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swhdqnVeAec); [the next time you drink, remember Salvador](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWQ9U-s-A8o).

10. Ireland has a history of producing some pretty horrific road safety ads. [Here’s an example](https://youtu.be/Wv1rKHGeMRk) and I’ll just add a warning that if you don’t want to see a portrayal of numerous happy children being randomnly killed by a driver, it’s best avoided.. Irish people didn’t have that choice though.

    In Northern Ireland, there used to be ads [warning against joining paramilitary groups](https://youtu.be/3i_p1mupPio)

11. [Varokaa Heikkoa jäätä!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GhC6qKdQ8o)

    **Beware of thin ice!**

    ~~Traumatizing~~ *Warning* Finnish children about dangers of thin ice since 1986.

    AFAIK it’s still in use and shown together with other children programs in the spring time when ice coverage on the lakes can be treacherous.