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Due to my short attention span recently, I have been watching a ton of public service announcements on YouTube. Just from a filmmaking perspective, a lot of these are really fascinating and demonstrate a remarkable audiovisual economy. There is usually some sort of gimmick that relates to the topic being propagandized (reckless driving, workplace accidents, child abuse, etc.) and the directors are simply following that gimmick to its logical conclusion. 

But what is really interesting to me about so many of these ads is their mode of address. Of course, on a literal level, they are addressing us as citizens, whose actions can result in personal or social injury, either to ourselves or, most importantly, others. The Aussie and Kiwi road safety spots are especially successful in this regard, because usually the person who causes the accident survives but kills some other innocent person, and is therefore forced to live with crushing guilt. (Not surprisingly, U.S. spots focus on what can happen to you, or your children, but everyone else is on their own.)

But more than this call to citizenship, these PSAs demonstrate something that might be a useful rule in filmmaking. Narrative violence is something we've been conditioned to handle, and even enjoy. But these PSAs remove all narrative, all past and future, to zero in on an unexpected, horrific tragedy. In this respect, the ads themselves mirror the traumatic impact that would result from the actual accidents they are trying to prevent. And if we consider the fact that these spots would ideally pop up unexpectedly during, I dunno, Bakeoff or Dancing with the Stars or a football game, we can best understand their formal purpose. They may be designed to cause nightmares, so that our daily reality will be guided by unconscious (but socially desirable) fears.

Here are some of the best (or, depending on your point of view, worst):

prevent-it.ca: a suite of five gruesome spots about workplace "accidents." As the tagline insists, there are no "accidents," since each fatal misadventure was the result of choices, usually a combination of corporate / managerial malfeasance and personal carelessness. If I discovered that Cronenberg had made these, I wouldn't be completely surprised.

Meth Project Montana: just a whole bunch of ads showing the seamy underbelly of life (and death) that awaits you if you try meth... EVEN ONCE. Studies have shown that these were more effective with the target audience (who tend to scoff at these nanny-state efforts), because they combined fear with disgust, an added element that was harder for jaded teens to ignore.

NSPCC: the National Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse (U.K.) has come under fire in the last decade, as has the Meth Project, and mostly for the same reasons. Let's not forget that however well-intentioned these groups may be, they are large NGOs that spend most of their operating budgets on administration and, well, the commercials themselves. Also, some Tories have claimed that the NSPCC has an anti-father bias. And alas, the group got ensnared in the Satanic Panic of the 1990s. Still, some of their best ads are unforgettable, and speak to those effective gimmicks I mentioned above.

This one, "Ventriloquist," is far and away the best one. 

National Domestic Abuse Hotline: This spot is a master class in editing and rhythm. It literally lulls you into the "comfort" of repeat abuse, only to confront you with the threat of it happening now.

South Africa "do something" abuse spot: Gaspar Noé only wishes he could be this much of an edgelord. One of the most sickening things I've ever seen.

Finally, I watched one PSA that was in a top-100 clip reel, but I can't find it right now. I can't imagine it ever actually aired. But it is so explicit (not graphic, though) that I won't do a Google search for it because I would pull in some highly illegal things I want nothing to do with.

Pleasant dreams!