1980s War on Drugs PSAs do not age well #FdAdFriday

He is pitying the living fuck out of that fool.

Especially when they feature Mr. T and New Edition. (Although I'm not sure Bobby Brown should be giving any lectures about drugs.)



Via Buzzfeed

Louisville's bizarre breastfeeding ad is not helping the cause #FdAdFriday

Great. Many Americans are already weirded out by breastfeeding because they see breasts as single-function male titillators. But with this completely effed take on the unfortunate and played out "animated talking baby" format, they're just creeping people out even more.



Worst of all is the sped-up baby voice. It reminds me of "that high squeaky voice" of evil Toon in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Not a good association.

The campaign means well, at least. In the United States, women of African ancestry have some of the lowest breastfeeding rates. It's an issue that needs addressing. But is the the best the mayor's Healthy Hometown initiative could come up with?

If you read this blog, you know how I feel about the issue. Breastfeeding is a marvellous and deeply human thing. This ad... is not.

Via Adfreak

Knight Rider's War on Drugs

In this 1985 PSA featuring David Hasselhoff in his Michael Knight character from the Knight Rider series, you can actually watch the American "War on Drugs" making a wrong turn:



As Knight discusses the drug issue with his artificially intelligent Trans-Am, KITT, the two end up clashing on social marketing theory. The car wants to do a rational campaign, based on statistics that paint a vague but ominous picture about the health effects of "drugs", but Knight says kids don't care about that. In the end, KITT gives up and suggests a direct appeal to authority:

"Illegal drugs are bad news. Don't mess with them."

It's true that bare statistics are not very effective social marketing messaging. Numbers are easy to ignore. You have to make consequences relevant, personal, and close if you want to really influence behaviour through fear.

Obviously, the writers of the ad thought they had a great solution to delivering the stats that their client wanted, but wrapped in a cool celebrity delivery. I'm sure they thought Hasselhoff was someone the teens would look up to, and the authoritarian tone is one that was popular in the Reagan era.

It's funny to look back at this now, though. Particularly when you can appreciate the irony of Hasselhoff warning kids about illegal drugs. The man, you see, had serious issues with a completely legal drug, alcohol:



There goes that message...

Update: This post was picked up by Copyranter on Buzzfeed.

These messages brought to you by #WorldWaterDay

It's World Water Day today, and I'm up to my baby blues in "real" work, so here's a compilation of classic water-related PSAs to remind us all of what's at stake if we don't keep our water resources clean and safe (hint: we all die).

Matt Damon's viral PSA "making of" freakout (contains F-bombs, via earthfirst.com)



Jennifer Connelly has to fetch water from Central Park to live (via search)



Wasting Water is Weird (via Osocio)



Sweden's controversial "dirty water" mom via (Adfreak)



A strikingly similar (and earlier) PSA from the UK (via The Next Good Idea)



Yet another execution of the same idea, again via AdFreak



And again, for UNICEF (via Ads of The World)



And, now for something completely different...

Surfrider Foundation: "Butts" (found via search)



The message is clear: Never take clean water for granted.

F'd Ad Fridays: Dirty Sign Language PSAs

It's well-known that the first thing anyone learns about a new language is how to curse.

I guess it's the same with American Sign Language. "Dirty Signs with Kristin" is a hilarious YouTube Channel in which the super cute hostess teaches us the ASL versions of phrases such as:











See the rest here.

Tip via Buzzfeed.

1 in 5 teenagers will experiment with art

An illustrator friend, Marc A., shared this on Facebook:

Hosted by the Philbrook Museum of Art

Considering how much dope gets smoked in art schools, though, the comparison may be a little too close for comfort.