Top 10 Worst And Most Off-Putting PSAs For Kids By William Sterling [1 more lists]

Most PSAs we saw as children sought to make us anti-social douchebags who are afraid of everything that moves. Here are the 10 worst and most off-putting PSAs targeted at children. GI Joe doesn't count because those actually taught us all what "knowing" is.

Make a Version Info View 4 Views: 18478 Items: 10

< >

Show: 5 25

Rank Name

1

The Different Kinds of Strangers

Children can encounter very many different kinds of dangers in the world, and according to this video they should stay away from...

- Adults that need help.
- People that own cars or vans.
- Women who don't know how to install batteries into an old-school
Gameboy.

Skip to 1:00 to see the different kinds of "traps" that strangers can set. They are absolutely wonderful... and one of the threats that a stranger gives a young boy is probably the funniest thing I've seen on the internet in about a year.

+ 0
2

VD Is For Everybody

This is a 70's PSA that lets kids (and adults-alike) know that venereal disease can be given to anybody and can come from anywhere: dancers, your local butcher, a librarian, babies...

I believe this commercial is David Lynch's influence for everything. EVERYTHING.

+ 1
3

He Man Says No Touching

He-Man wants to talk to you about not letting people touch you "that way."

Which way is "that way"? And why don't I trust a man who is so muscled and large when he's trying to tell me something important? For an adult, this thing is so awkward it hurts. But trust me, any kid growing up with this show likely didn't understand the meaning of being touched in "that way", and hoped to God both He-Man and She-Ra would touch them. We always want our heroes to touch us.

What? What did I say?

+ 0
4

The First Hit's Free

Ever tried drugs? Drugs from a puppet? A puppet with crazy, terrifying eyes?!

0:19 Elvis, Jim Morrison, John Belushi, girls snorting coke, and I think a subliminal picture of an angel... I'm not sure if they're trying to persuade our kids out of doing drugs or if they're trying to make them 80's rock stars.

00:21 Skip to 21 seconds in for when the puppets decide it's not worth the time to do drugs... then... for no reason... the most terrifying eyes you will ever see on a puppet. Out of nowhere. This probably convinced kids out of watching TV alone in the dark more than it did out of drugs.

+ 0
5

It Could Be Dead Wrong

Pee Wee Herman tells us not to do crack cocaine. Every time we use it, we risk dying. It might make you cool if you use it, but it'll kill you.

The zinger is the pun, "But doing it with crack isn't just wrong...it could be dead wrong." ZING! For little ones, this is pretty sure fire. A straight shot of one of our television personalities giving us the low down on crack. Awesome.

Crack = Not just wrong, but DEAD wrong, kids... meaning you will die. Get it? See what Pee Wee did there? Is that securely locked in there? Should we make another death pun? Cause we CAN! No? Good.

+ 1
6

Dontcha Put it in Your Mouth

The short: Unless a grown up says it's okay, dont'cha put it in your mouth.

The Long: Giant blue puppets playing instruments cause children more terror than "learning. Especially that blue one with the bow that DOESN'T FUCKING BLINK.

Oh yeah, and the title of the song is funny.

+ 0
7

Drug Abuse is the New Slavery

Arguably the most cringeworthy PSA on this list, this commercial basically says that slavery/racism is over and that now drugs are what people should be worried about.

"Slavery brought Africans to America in chains, stripped them of their dignity, tore them from their families, but they never surrendered until their were free. Don't let drugs be the new slavery."

That message seems, in that gist, not too bad. But the visuals are insanely racist. Clearly heroin, cocaine, and crack are drugs only African Americans do, as we see in the images provided featuring two strung out black kids.

Yay for progress!

+ 0
8

Be Your Own Best Friend!

BYOBF: Be Your Own Best Friend.

A boy band-esque group of guys wearing baggy clothes who appear to be best friends, hanging out with cute girls, and doing aerial tricks tells a young kid, who really takes his information from visuals, "This is what is fun."

If it weren't for the song being so darn catchy, it would have just fallen by the wayside. But here it rings true to us, to our childhood, we can BYOBF, because that means having lots of friends and learning to do flips.

+ 0
9

Drugs Which are Good Which are Bad

When the video is telling us to "drink a glass of water and take the doctor's pill", I wonder whether anyone has taken into consideration the concept of malpractice.

People jumping up and down, happily singing, "Drugs! Drugs! Drugs! Which are good? Which are bad?" Tells me only one thing, "If you do drugs, you can jump up and down and sing." As a child, my mind would forgo all information involved and jump straight to the facts. The word "Drugs" = Fun.

+ 0
10

House Hippo Concerned Childrens Advertisers

The PSA being a seeming informative piece on Canada's native "House Hippo" honestly had me going for about thirty seconds. I've been meaning to travel to Canada as of late, and I thought I'd get a chance to see the local house hippo infestations.

Alas, 'tis falsities. A beautiful pull out from a TV set tells us, "That looked really real, but you knew it couldn't be true didn't you?" Warning us not to believe all we hear on Television and ask questions about what we watch. What a way to spread the message, right? Insulting even KIDS' intelligence? Sweet.

+ 1