Tag Archives | PSA

New Yorkers Rattled By Fake PSA Chemical And Nuclear Warning Posters

By on May 20, 2013 in News 0

The work of “pranksters” providing the public with technically correct information. ANIMAL New York reports:

Relax, they’re not real. MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg, who dismissed the postings as “the work of pranksters,” told us so. But though neither of the posters were distributed by the MTA or any other state or city agency, both are totally truthful in their contents.

The NYPD will indeed be pumping the city with invisible gases called perflourocarbos this summer, in an effort to test how more harmful airborne substances would spread in the event of a chemical attack. And the nuclear power plant at Indian Point Energy Center is so at risk and so close to the city the Natural Resources Defense Council warns of a disaster ten to 100 times worse than Fukushima if it ever encounters seismic activity. Should you be worried? That’s up to you.

fake posters

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 0

When Does Democracy Turn Into Despotism?

By on March 15, 2013 in News 11

Created by Encyclopaedia Britannica Films in 1946, the still-thought-provoking short PSA Despotism & Democracy doesn’t exactly paint our current prospects in a positive light:

Measures how a society ranks on a spectrum stretching from democracy to despotism. Where does your community, state and nation stand on these scales?

Continue Reading · 11

Hacked Montana Television Station Issues Zombie Doomsday Alert

By on February 13, 2013 in News 8

Scary daytime viewing from Montana’s KRTV:

Someone apparently hacked into the Emergency Alert System and announced on KRTV and the CW that “dead bodies are rising from their graves” in several Montana counties. This message did not originate from KRTV, and there is no emergency. Our engineers are investigating to determine what happened and if it affected other media outlets.

Continue Reading · 8

Artist Behind Faux-NYPD PSA Ads Arrested Following Investigation By Counter-Terrorism Unit

By on December 18, 2012 in News 5

The creator of the previously noted fantastic poster campaign was apparently regarded as a terrorist threat and subject to a manhunt for daring to mock the police, the Verge reports:

A street artist who hung satirical posters criticising police surveillance activities has been arrested after an NYPD investigation tracked him to his doorstep. Essam Attia placed the Big Brother-style adverts in locations throughout Manhattan, using a fake Van Wagner maintenance van and uniforms to avoid detection. Attia now faces 56 counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument and grand larceny possession of stolen property.

Months after forensics teams and a “counter-terrorism” unit was spotted on the scene, the NYPD last Wednesday successfully tracked down and arrested the 29-year-old art school vandal, who identified himself in the video as a former “geo-spatial analyst” serving US military operations in Iraq.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 5

D.A.R.E. To Cease Teaching Middle Schoolers About The Evils Of Marijuana

By on December 10, 2012 in News 7

Not because they realized that their efforts amount to creepy brainwashing, but because a study suggested that being warned by D.A.R.E. increases, rather than decreases, tweens’ likelihood of smoking pot. Reason writes:

D.A.R.E., the national nonprofit that has promoted “Drug Abuse Resistance Education” to elementary, middle, and high school students since the early 1980s, will all but drop anti-drug material from its curriculum for fifth and sixth grade students.

“D.A.R.E. America has determined that anti-drug material is not age-appropriate,” a state affiliate leader told Reason. “The new curriculum focuses on character development”…[and] does not bring up the subject of marijuana at all.

The curriculum change is likely part of an ongoing attempt by the organization to restore its credibility with the scientific community. In 1999, the American Psychological Association conducted a study of D.A.R.E. graduates and concluded that its curriculum was ineffective. The Government Accountability Office announced in 2003 that D.A.R.E.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 7

Washington, D.C. Launches Transgender Respect Ad Campaign

By on September 20, 2012 in News 14

The new series of PSAs breaks ground as the first such effort by an American city. DCist writes:

Mayor Vince Gray and the D.C. Office of Human Rights yesterday launched an ad campaign promoting respect for the city’s transgender and gender-non-conforming residents. The five ads, which will appear this fall, use images of members of the transgender and gender-non-conforming and convey the message that they are no different than any other D.C. resident.

City officials say that the government-funded ad campaign is the first of its kind in the nation to focus on transgender and gender-non-conforming residents.

At the launch of the ad campaign yesterday, Gray admitted that while the ads themselves would not be enough to stop discrimination and acts of violence, they would serve to raise awareness and highlight legal rights and protections that members of the community enjoy under the expansive D.C. Human Rights Act.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 14

Target’s Anti-Union Propaganda PSA

By on September 7, 2012 in News 14

Rounding out the the post-Labor-Day work week, here is Target’s informational video educating new employees on the dangers of unionization. The confusing logic seems to be, unions are unnecessary both because they are ineffective (they are just after your dues money), and they accompished so much in the past (ending child labor, et cetera) that all of workers’ problems have already been fixed:

New Target employees are forced to watch this video so that they are indoctrinated into fearing unions. If you’re a Target employee, please don’t be deceived by your bosses. Target Corporation made over 2.9 billion dollars last year. You deserve better wages, benefits, and working conditions, and your employer can afford to give them to you.

Continue Reading · 14