If only I had TIVO
When I arrived in London, I expected the media culture to be more secular and avant-garde than in the U.S. - particularly in our post Nipplegate society. I wasn't completely surprised, then, when I saw FCUK's controversial new Fashion v. Style campaign, which stretches things a bit further than our modern day FCC would allow. Click the link. It's well worth it.
I didn't, however, realize that this tendency to take things a little too far would creep into the (formerly) pure world of Public Service Announcements. Evidently, Brits find it necessary to be explicit not only with sex, but also with public safety messages. This became most clear to me last night when wasting some time watching television. In the span of 30 minutes, I caught two very curious, and actually quite disturbing PSA commercials courtesy of the UK Department of Transportation. They weren't sexual in nature, but in my opinion went overboard nonetheless.
The first was to address "Drink Driving" in the UK. See the ad for yourself here. The second took a look at public safety risks for teenagers specificifally. See it here.
Although I'll admit to being a fan of the somewhat dramatic truth.com campaigns, I found each of these to be surprisingly sensationalist. Am I off base?
Update: I re-read this post this morning (yes, I am that egocentric) and found myself annoyed with, well, myself. To be clear - I'm not a raving conservative (don't you like how seamlessly lunatic and conservative interchange?), and I'm not completely humorless. I actually did think these PSAs were funny when I saw them. But I think I found most of the humor in the fact that a bunch of suits in a conference room actually signed off on these things. And do I always sound like such a prick? Don't answer that. I think it's because I initially wrote this right after work, which meant I was still in "follow-up, touch base, reach out, synergy" email mode.
Also, Tbauma reminded me of another overt ad. We saw this one at a bus stop when she was here in London.
I didn't, however, realize that this tendency to take things a little too far would creep into the (formerly) pure world of Public Service Announcements. Evidently, Brits find it necessary to be explicit not only with sex, but also with public safety messages. This became most clear to me last night when wasting some time watching television. In the span of 30 minutes, I caught two very curious, and actually quite disturbing PSA commercials courtesy of the UK Department of Transportation. They weren't sexual in nature, but in my opinion went overboard nonetheless.
The first was to address "Drink Driving" in the UK. See the ad for yourself here. The second took a look at public safety risks for teenagers specificifally. See it here.
Although I'll admit to being a fan of the somewhat dramatic truth.com campaigns, I found each of these to be surprisingly sensationalist. Am I off base?
Update: I re-read this post this morning (yes, I am that egocentric) and found myself annoyed with, well, myself. To be clear - I'm not a raving conservative (don't you like how seamlessly lunatic and conservative interchange?), and I'm not completely humorless. I actually did think these PSAs were funny when I saw them. But I think I found most of the humor in the fact that a bunch of suits in a conference room actually signed off on these things. And do I always sound like such a prick? Don't answer that. I think it's because I initially wrote this right after work, which meant I was still in "follow-up, touch base, reach out, synergy" email mode.
Also, Tbauma reminded me of another overt ad. We saw this one at a bus stop when she was here in London.
posted by cjb at 10:29 PM
16 Comments:
those were quite ridiculous, especially the teen road safety one. here's what the keen eye catches in both those videos.
1) the Drunk Driving Video: First of all, did the narrator say "Drink Driver"? I think he did. What the hell is a drink driver? Someone who has one and then drives? Are they saying you shouldn't even have one drink? Second, it's obvious the woman was jaywalking, I mean, she wasn't even mock-walking across the street, she was mock-walking directly into oncoming traffic. Obviously not the drivers fault. Plus I don't think there would be a bar in the middle of street to break her neck. She would have a broken leg, maybe some compressed vertebrae at the most.
2) The teen safety video: First, it should have ended with the kids going into a house and a deep voice over saying, "These kids are going inside to do drugs and have an orgy, all because you wanted to be a working mum. Stay at home or your kids will turn into drug-sex addicts." Second, we are to assume this took place in the UK, correct? Well last time I checked, you drove on the left side of road in the UK. That car was on the right, and the kid did look to the right (where cars that obey basic traffic laws would becoming from) before he crossed. Obviously the driver's fault. That kid should sue. Could the kid have looked both ways? Sure. But don't bust his chops because someone else was breaking the law. Plus, I think the last thing he needs is some asshole telling him to look both ways when he has a fucking car wedged up his ass.
That's just my take.
The second one reminds me of a video of a woman getting hit by a train that I used to show to the girls freshman year. They didn't like it -- "too stressful."
Are you fucking serious? Those are all super weird and way too out there for my American taste. I'm such a prude.
chase has now removed audio from our computers. i can't wait to look at it when i get home! :)
and what about the posters of the safety campaign in the bus stops about how often women are raped in the city by unlicensed cabbies? it's like a uk version of scared straight.
Chase sounds like a company with a lot invested in keeping its employees ignorant. I don't get that.
Anyway, the first one wasn't so crazy, as far as I'm concerned. It was an odd PSA, but I didn't watch that and think to myself, "Wow, that is so Euro." At least, not because of the violent conclusion. The second one rates much higher on the Euro scale, not least of all because the accident seemed like a deliberate attempt at vehicular manslaughter (although it would then just be murder, if it were deliberate). The kid was in the street long enough for the car to have tried to slow down, no?
But even the second one is only so-so as a shocker. I mean, there's a Capital One commercial here in the states in which a jogger gets hit by a trash collector that's backing out of an alley. It's not as graphic, nor as realistic, but it is surprising when you first see it. (Upon subsequent viewings, you learn to relish it.)
And let's be honest: nothing beats the hot-rod clip from last September in which the car runs over a dude and blows the pants off of another one. That was the best thing ever recorded.
Kiren - you make some very good points. Although in order to truly check if the driver was driving on the wrong side of the road, I'd have to take another look at the tapes TJ Lavin style (do any of you still watch The Gauntlet? That finale was the worst 1.99 I've ever spent on iTunes. Embarrassing. Well, if I'm really comparing, actually that ONE Laguna Beach episode that Sharon outed me on is my worst ever 1.99 iTunes purchase. It was just that one episode! But enough with counting).
And Stacey, we both know that Rachna "nice patrol" Saxena would not be a fan of these clips. No way. Not sure about Caitlin "ehh...too many dangerous (and hilarious) quote options here" Friedman.
As I've just posted in my update, it's not that I don't think they're hilarious in an odd way, it's just weird that they actually put these out as PSAs.
Joey - Good point on the "knock your pants off" Nascar clip. Although after you made us rewind it for the 30th time it sort of lost its luster...
I don't think the hot rod clip ever lost its luster. I've never laughed that hard in my life. And I just got through laughing about it again, and I wasn't even able to review it. I mean, it blew the guys pants off like they were tissue paper. and how fucking embarrassing is that. your friend got run over and you can't run to help him because you have no pants on. everything is chaotic, people screaming and running to help and shit and you're standing there in the middle of a drag strip with no fucking pants on. oh man, it doesn't get any funnier than that. it honestly doesn't.
be honest. you totally have the entire first season of laguna on itunes. and don't get me started on your screensaver...
wasn't i visiting you guys when we saw that hot rod clip? i'd forgotten about that.
C-brew, thanks for the comment. Glad that mixtape site will be of use to you in your iTunes shopping, though you'll have to enlighten me about the music that plays during the OC. Have you found yourself ordering fish and chips more frequently in London than you did in New York?
The small print on the minicab/rape ad says that you will be charged 35 cents to text HOME. It's good to know that avoiding rape costs you only 35 cents, rather than, oh i don't know, a free public service.
Kee-im, how could you have forgotten about that?! We watched it for an hour and then had the Chipotle Brent was in withdrawal for while Curt whispered sweet nothings to his paramour over the phone.
I am voting the FCUK commercial second best ever, coming behind the commercial where the belly buttons sing "I am coming out." It lost points when I realized the chick made out with a girl whose face was just in the toilet.
G-A good point on that, but really, you'd probably kiss her too, right? I mean, c'mon...
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