Discovery

Shocking Public Service Announcements (PSA) are common in Canada. For example, a few years ago in Quebec, we had a TV ad that contained real footage shot during a daring car stunt that went terribly wrong (the teenage driver died while doing the stunt) so that teens would be “scared straight” by seeing how stupid and deadly reckless driving can be.

The latest shocking PSA TV ad campaign comes from Ontario and is called “Prevent It.” These PSAs, which have been airing for a while now, feature shocking and gruesome scenes showing what can happen at work if you don’t ensure safety is everyone’s primary concern.

Here are some words I’ve heard people say after watching those PSAs either live on TV or online: gruesome, shocking, grotesque, disgusting, powerful, incredible, hideous, sick, awful, well-done, efficient, and the list goes on and on. You either like the ads or don’t. But everyone has to agree on one thing: those PSAs airing on TV have everyone at the watercooler talking. This buzz, either good or bad, helps the campaign reach its goal: have people talking about safety at the workplace.

The Prevent-It.ca website claims that the ads promote “awareness of the need for workplace safety.” With these hard-hitting ads, the people behind the campaign “wanted to show how severe workplace injuries can be while reminding viewers that everyone plays a role in avoiding workplace injuries, illnesses and fatalities; these could all have been prevented.”

Here are a few of the ads airing on Ontario TV channels:

You can find more TV ads from this campaign on YouTube. The “Prevent It” campaign also reaches the Internet, the radio and printed press. How would you describe this campaign Let your voice be heard in comments.

[Via Pong A Long]