Scary, Unsettling, and/or Disturbing Social Ads

An Example of an Unsettling PSA/PIF/Social Ad - Here's my illustration (not an exact interpretation, but you get the idea) of the old Water Safety New Zealand social ad. It shows a dark, lonely river at dusk, and it fades into a line of floating candles swiftly flowing along with the current to disturbing bass music. As the dimly candlelit river flows, a male voiceover tells viewers that too many kids lost their fathers and too many women are made widows. Why? Because too many men drowned due to consuming alcohol while doing water activities. Ugh - this is not something you should watch alone in the middle of the night. Good thing there's no floating coffin where I have expected or else...
@talfonso (246)
United States
October 31, 2011 9:10am CST
Social ads (known as public service announcements/PSAs in the States, public information films in the UK, and vice versa) are commercials that spur the viewer into taking action. But the ones that unsettle, scare, or disturb you are most likely to incite action. If you are an American kid of the 90's, you probably watched the Partnership for a Drug-Free America ad about inhalants. It featured a girl in a dress and leggings holding a plush rabbit in some bedroom-attic. Water fills it all the way to the top, and the girl swims to get herself out. It was already too late for her - she drowned in the flooded attic. I have to admit that I was one of those kids who found that scary. Even a good ad agency such as the Ad Council makes ads that make you have an accident in your shorts. In 1984, they created an ad with a paper doll family, and it ignites until burned. The cheerful piano music turns sinister in the process. A voiceover tells the viewers that more people are living closer to the forests and they have to be careful with fire. GAH. Even ads from other nations have their own way of unsettling viewers. In Iceland, there was a series of ads from 2003 by road safety agency Umferdarstofa. It showed shots of cemeteries with voiceovers talking about how their loved ones died and it ends with a cross alongside a tagline saying that it's not worth the risk. So, here are some questions. What social ads (or PSAs) scare you, disturb you, or gave you nightmares as a kid? Which ones do so as an adult? Do you hide behind the sofa or change the channel if you see one beginning during commercials?
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