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Pop Culture

The Most Bizarre Celebrity PSAs of All Time

By Alison Nastasi on

As our friends at Open Culture recently pointed out, the heyday of the public service announcement has passed. The Internet is our new gateway for learning about social issues — once you sort through all the false information, of course. When we saw a cheeky anti-smoking PSA from John Waters, we got a hankering for more vintage awareness videos with a bizarre twist. Go henceforth to see what the Pope of Trash had to say about cigarettes, and enjoy other PSAs that mesmerize with their well-intentioned weirdness. … Read More

Pop Culture

Watch a Super Adorable Video About the Dumbest Ways to Die

By Emily Temple on

Note to self: do not die in any of these incredibly dumb ways. In an effort to warn people about the negative consequences of fooling around near subway tracks, Australia’s Metro Trains has created the epically cheerful, incredibly catchy Don Hertzfeldt-esque PSA about avoiding life’s little dangers. We guarantee that you will both smile and nod your head knowingly as all the dead characters dance their “don’t be an idiot” jig along with the characters. Watch the video after the jump, and as ever, let us know what you think in the comments. … Read More

Pop Culture

Watch Mike From ‘Breaking Bad’ in a 1974 PSA About Menstruation

By Emily Temple on

You probably know Jonathan Banks best as Mike Ehrmantraut, the cool and collected professional “fixer” on AMC’s Breaking Bad, but, as we’ve just discovered from this 1974 PSA entitled Linda’s Film on Menstruation, he also makes a quite effective teenage doofus. In this highly educational short film, Banks plays the boyfriend of the titular Linda, who needs a little help understanding exactly what Linda means when she tells him that blood is flowing out of her uterus. Skip to 1:10 if you’re anxious to see Banks, but we got a giggle out of watching the entire thing. And hey, if you’re particularly uninformed (just like Mike), you might even learn something. … Read More

Web

Watch a PSA Some ’90s Kids Made About the Internet

By Caroline Stanley on

We have to thank The Daily What for tipping us off to this glorious, and oddly prescient, time capsule: a PSA created by a group of fifth-graders from Montana back in 1995 to extoll the virtues of the Internet. Considering that they were probably using dial-up modems in order to get online and search for such wonders as “soccer scores for a team in Italy” and “a recipe for cat food cupcakes,” it’s kind of amazing how enthusiastic they were about the whole thing; we can’t help but wonder if they still love the Internet as much today, now that everyone really is on it. Or perhaps we’re overthinking a clip that should be celebrated for its inclusion of a denim hat alone? … Read More

Film

How Do You Feel About This Sasha Grey PSA?

By Caroline Stanley on

Apparently in Belgium they have something called Equal Pay Day in order to raise awareness about the 22% wage gap between genders. Which sounds like a great thing to us! But here’s where it gets kind of weird. Would you like to see a rather problematic, not to mention NSFW, artistic promotional video that the Belgian group made that stars Sasha Grey and ends with the tagline “porn is about the only way for women to make more than men”? Of course you would! It’s like they knew that you wouldn’t be able to resist! … Read More

Television

Video of the Day: Yellow Dino: Pedo Hunter

By Emily Temple on

Watch this crazy 80s video about how to avoid ‘tricky people’ – tricky people who, in a somewhat bizarre pitch for general paranoia, could be anywhere you look. A yellow dinosaur in Ray Bans lays the smack down on a suspected pedophile by punching through his safe… it’s like an episode of 21 Jump Street mixed with a very special episode of Barney. And oh man, we really have to stop falling for Reginald Charming when he tells us he’s got some puppies in his car. Click through for the video and get ready to feel mildly uncomfortable. … Read More

Film

Video of the Day: One Got Fat

By Emily Temple on

The weather’s getting nice, so it’s time to get those bikes out. But first! Brooklyn hipsters and cool moms, to survive you must first learn the rules of the road. Edward Everett Horton, the narrator of the 1963 PSA ”One Got Fat,” turns the rules of bicycle safety into a ape-filled fever dream, presiding over the deadly proceedings with sadistic, lip-licking glee. Under Horton’s tutelage, we follow a group of children in monkey masks as they bike to their picnic and watch as all but one get killed off along the way for such crimes as not signaling, not registering their bikes, and road rage. As one monkey child and his fat monkey friend who had been perched on his handlebars fall down a pothole to their deaths, Horton chuckles, ”So long, fellas. There seems to be a flaw in the buddy system.” The only child that survives is Orville Slump, who carried everyone’s lunches and is destined to get fat off his deceased playmates’ sandwiches. Says Horton, ”He’ll get fat all right.” Right? Right. … Read More

Web

Video of the Day: ’80s Anti-Drug PSA

By Caroline Stanley on

This hilarious PSA from the ’80s that we spotted over on The Daily What reminds us that kids don’t have to meet some shady dope dealer from the mafia to get their hands on drugs. They just have to want to run around looking like Madonna. Or to hear colors. Take the trip to K-land after the jump — unless you’re worried about destroying your life. … Read More

Television

The 10 Best Celebrity PSAs from the ’90s

By Todd Van Luling on

In some ways, looking back at the ’90s today feels like we’re looking at a foreign culture — one that just happens to like floral-print vests and white-wash jeans. But there is at least one connecting thread: PSAs. While today’s TV spots tend to focus the dangers of sexting and texting while driving, back in the good old days, it was all about keeping kids off of drugs and hooked on books. Click through to view our 10 favorites that feature celebrities of the… Read More