I'm British so have grown up on hard hitting public service/charity adverts. Some of the public service ads from my childhood that were aimed at children were so terrifying I've never forgotten them. The boy getting electrocuted by the power line, the kid drowning in the river, the kid getting run over by the train - really hard hitting and gritty. We don't sugar coat anything in the UK!
The ad of the road safety when the focus goes into the school trip there loads which are very effective for their purpose compared to other countries which the point doesn’t get across as much
Yes I remember them adverts to as a kid.. Really stuck with me granted was always safe and didn't do silly things but still.. After the railway one I was terrified to go on trains for a bit just incase it got me while on the train.. The things we think of as kids ey
Road safety ads were either cute hedgehogs singing "stop, look, listen and we're staying alive" or kids being brutally murdered by a speeding car. There was no inbetween.
Absolutely. They're also not really designed to be watched one after another, it becomes like emotional beating. Granted, I DO think they should be watched, but maybe not binge-watched like this, otherwise the message of each individual one might not be fully taken in. "See The Child" is one that actually got me reaching for the phone.
In a way, both statements are true. It's f*cked up BECAUSE it's reality. Especially the ones concerning abuse, trafficking and war, situations that victims are forced into against their wills because of the selfishness and cruelty of those who are more "powerful".
The Brits don't pull punches when it comes to public safety ads. Australia and New Zealand followed suit. I think it's good, and it's proven very effective.
Context For non uk viewers - The one where the boy falls out of the tree isn’t promoting ambulance service or career it’s a charity which is volunteer led with provides health and first aid. They’re really amazing and just in 2021 trained half a million people in life saving skills. They also trained 30,000 people to give vaccines during the pandemic. ❤️
@Rob Lynn ... They operate an ambulance service that provids emergency medical care *that you the patient do not have to pay for* unlike in the united states where such an organisation *would charge you, the patient, for their services*
@Best Behave The UK will never introduce services requiring people to pay for medical assistance. If you are American and can't quite understand it, look at it like one of our forms of Constitutional Rights - free healthcare.
As an aussie who grew up with similar style ads. And seeing multiple americans react like you to this stuff makes me think your country has done itself a disservice by not having this around to show some of the harsher shit that happens in life.
In Britain there is a road safety organisation called THINK and they’ve made some horrific adverts over the years. You could do a whole video consisting of just those
About 20 years ago I was trying to give up smoking but struggling. There were a few adverts on at the time. One had a mum explaining to her child about why the mum was dying of lung cancer due to smoking. My 3 year old daughter saw it and burst into tears begging me not to smoke and die. I stopped there and then because of that and haven't smoked since. Nasty but they work.
when you think about it that might well have saved your life. its entirely possible that right now you could be in the position of that mum from the advert if you hadn't stopped. make the most of all the years you have yet to come and enjoy every moment of your life. oh and give your daughter a hug when you see her :)
Me and my sister saw that ad and told my mom to stop smoking - she promised she would stop but only cut down. Eventually we started cutting up her cigarettes, then she started hiding them, so we would look everywhere for them and cut them up. Eventually it became economically unviable to keep smoking and she hasn’t smoked since. She said we were really annoying at the time (and wasted her a lot of money) but she’s glad we did it.
My grandmother had a heart attack at 40 because of her smoking, my mother told her if she ever wanted to see her grandkids again, she will stop, if she didn't and ended up in hospital again, she wouldn't visit. She didn't, continued to have 1 with some friends, ended in hospital again after an angina attack, mother never visited then she stopped.
I remember the one with the man who was explaining why he had to have his long removed through a malignant tumour around the same time and distinctively remember his exact words, this was all due to smoking, that little white stick that you put in your mouth and at 34 I shouldn’t be going through this.
I have to say I am proud of our hard hitting adverts. They are representing serious problems, so they need to upset/provoke people. I remember the "Break the cycle" one over a decade ago and it stayed with me for years.
The one that's stayed with me is the "hit me at 30 there's an 80% chance I'll live. Hit me at 40 there's an 80% chance I'll die" I can still hear the bonus cracking back into place till this day!
Having been through domestic abuse as a child, the Bernados one is actually pretty accurate. Thats how we be, and I'm so grateful to the people who invest so much time in putting people like us back together. I'm now doing a masters at a great university, and one day I would love to adopt a child and give them a better life than I had! :)
Yeah I'm British, they would show adverts like this in primary school. I still remember them now, genuinely traumatic, if you're an adult it's still even shocking
I think adverts like this though are why the British are smarter on alot of levels and have more common sense. These were part of our growing up learning. I still think the ones from the 80s and 90s that I grew up with were worse than some that came in the noughties. American adverts are about being loud and brash not really conveying anything, they wouldnt even touch some of the things we in the UK have seen in adverts.
You say we have f****d up advertising, I say we have effective advertising. What is advertising supposed to do? Sometimes you have to make people feel uncomfortable to get the right response. I appreciate your channel, but I am so proud to live in a country that can sometimes treat it's tv audience with some respect and not pander to the lowest common denominator.
But of course we have the government that we have, so brain-donor Nadine is determined to sell Channel 4 in her rush to the lowest common denominator. You speak of respect for the audience, which falls into the same category as respect for the law and respect for electors with these people: a punchline at a drinks party.
If these adverts save one life surely it’s worth a bit of discomfort to the viewing pubic. I’m not saying have them every commercial break but now and again IMO.
How do we measure the effectiveness of ads like this though? Sounds like you're just assuming they're effective because they make people feel uncomfortable. Doesn't mean that the types of people that need to see and understand these ads take any notice. Smokers still smoke despite the graphic images printed on cigarette packets.
@@megadesu69 The charities run campaigns, measure the effect upon donations, memberships, etc., and keep running this type of advert or don't. That is the measure.
And so many of our films too. Everything in America is either selling you something or pure escapism, they just don't seem to deal in reality. Not one American movie is in my Top 50.
@@danielwhyatt3278 Really? Russel is good but they should get the full on Frankie Boyle and Jimmy Carr standup. The trouble is that most of them would need an interpreter for Frankie 😆
The one advert that always stuck with me was a road safety one. It depicted a mother driving her two children. Daughter in the front seat and son behind her. The car was involved in a smash and the son was thrown forward, hitting his mother's seat, which forced it forward, crushing her. He landed dazed in the back seat with a nose bleed while his sister screamed. I don't even think I was very old when that advert was doing the rounds but damn straight I always did my seatbelt up.
Indeed, that ad traumatised me so much I legit started getting up and walking out the room whenever I saw the car; but I wouldn’t change a thing about it.
When I was a bit younger I saw an advert against drinking and driving. It all focussed on a classroom with an empty desk. The missing child had been killed by a drunk driver. The teacher's and all the children's faces looked grief stricken. Then the child narrator ended by just saying "he was my best friend". I just burst into tears. I have never, ever touched a drop if I'm driving since I saw that advert. I just hear that little boy saying "he was my best friend". I have to say these adverts do make me proud that as country we can call a spade a spade and take the attitude that sometimes you need to be upset, sometimes you need to be made uncomfortable. Sometimes some things are more important than how upset you feel.
Honestly it’s interesting to see an American react to this, because as much as these ads might have traumatised us as children, growing up with them has made us feel like this is the standard for advertising, and at least for me I no longer get traumatised as much but rather am able to accept the message they are trying to portray.
13 years ago there was an anti smoking advert on British tv where a little girl says all the stuff she's not scared of like monsters, the dark, the neighbours dog. Then she said "there is one thing I'm scared of... I'm scared my mummy's going to die" it then shows her mum smoking with other parents outside the school. My son was one when I saw that. I went straight to the stop smoking nurse a couple of days later. It took me 4 trys but I've stopped smoking for 6 years now. They're hard to watch but definitely work ❤
The most effective anti-smoking advert I ever saw was two guys looking at a very attractive girl coming into the pub. The One says to the other. "It's like kissing an old ashtray.",
I learned never to smoke before people could try to get me to try it, as a child I saw both my Nan's smoke themselves to death, as an adult I watched my step dad do the same despite me trying to help him quit, those memories are always there like scars I'll congratulate you for having the willpower to quit and sticking to it,
These are from some of our great UK charities, and provide a reality check where it's needed. I especially appreciate how they treat the audience with the intelligence and respect to be able to draw their own conclusions and make the right choice at the end of the ad.
They're a great way to make people feel horrible so they donate to charities (which may or may not be trustworthy). Even if good intentioned, it's not really the best way to go about it in my opinion. These modern disturbing ads are like a symptom of the decline of our society.
@@megadesu69 I've grown up in the UK and while this compilation has focused on the hard hitting adverts of the past decade primarily, this is definitely not a modern thing. Obviously, I didn't see many adverts like these before about 30 years ago (these adverts only air after the children are in bed and I'm only in my 40s), but they were definitely getting people's attention even before that. We brits have a different approach to Americans and I can definitely see how these adverts would hit a lot harder for those not used to being confronted with the harsher side of life. That's not to say that these don't hit hard even for a Brit. It's worth noting that these adverts would also be a lot more spread out rather than seeing 10 of them in less than 30 minutes.
@@megadesu69 a lot of them aren't for profit though. The first aid, and safety ads are rarely asking for donations. For example I remember a railway safety ad where a girl walks backwards onto the tracks and doesn't see the train. It hits hard and I am now always super careful around train tracks. These types of ads save lives.
@@shibadawn whenever i watch reactions to these compilations i have to skim through the video beforehand to make sure that ad isn't in there because that one shat me up so much when i was younger, i remember not being able to listen to "let me love you" by Ne-Yo because the first time i saw that ad was during an ad break for the x factor or bgt where he performed it, they're so effective, but do traumatise people aswell
Some of the New Zealand and Australian PSA's even put us Brits to shame. Sometimes you have to use a sledgehammer to crack a Pea! With all the BS Softly, Softly ads in the media these days, Shock is really the only way to send a message. Until its cancelled because some idiot gets upset by it...... that's the Point!
The UK has a similar one ..It says like being hit at 40 you have a 80% chance of dying, hit at 30 you have a 80% chance of living.. or something.. they ofc use a child being hit by a car.
Just a little story about St Johns Ambulance, a local woman served in St Johns for many, many years, she was also our Lollipop Lady (road crossing safety) she had two sons both with degenerative diseases. She didn't come from a rich background, lived in a council house and yet she was, apart from my parents, possibly the most influential person in my early life. Mrs Moorby, thank you for everything you did!
You're a good man EB. It was very clear that these adverts hit you hard, especially all together. They used to show adverts like this when I was in primary school, especially about road safety.
Oh man this one is the WORST and i was actually expecting it on this list. I can still hear the bones cracking. I was only about 15 when this advert came out but it stuck with me throughout learning how to drive and how to behave on the roads. Another is the rail crossing one where it shows strewn luggage all over rail tracks and then an empty car seat
I was expecting that advert too. I remember it to this day and am always careful in built up areas, checking ahead of me between cars etc. Im so thankful too as a little boy ran in front of my car after a ball once and I was able to stop well in advance because of that awareness. And luck I guess. Xxxx
Nothing traditionally British about these disturbing guilt-tripping adverts. They're a symptom of modern times and I'd wager they contribute to a more fearful society.
Man, when the UK does adverts, they do adverts *REALLY* well. As a Kiwi, I can get behind all of them. *edit: US advertising seems to me as 'mere' entertainment for the masses. In the UK, at least, and many other European countries it's more about the message. Grotesque? Because MND is a grotesque disease. Can't sugarcoat that in any way. Can't be lighthearted, fun. Hard hitting, indeed. And then some.
mnd one of the most horrible diseases imaginable you could be a perfectly healthy person at a young age and then the next minute all your body is shutting down slowly while your brain stays fine, trapped in a paralysed body unable to move or communicate and slowly dying. saying it is grotesque is putting it lightly.
Every TV program that comes out of the UK is amazing. Watch their 1 season shows with fewer than 10 episodes, and theyre awesome still. We in North America like quantity over quality, different o'rthere.
I remember being shown a PSA about smoke alarms in year 5 and it gave me an irrational fear of smoke alarms not working ever since. the ads sure are effective, better to be scared of it than careless.
Actually something else has occurred to me, the first Bernado's one where the guy was regressing back to a child showing all the trauma is actually positive because it does show at the beginning that he does eventually end up in a good place because of the support he gets from the charity (although it's a long slog to get there)
@@redfog42 exactly, the world is not a fair and free place. We are fortunate even having a dry, safe place to live, with decent food and clean water - that is an unimaginable luxury for a large percentage of humans. Terrible things are happening to good people who have done nothing wrong - daily, by the million.
One of the last jobs worked on when I worked in construction, was clearing out a local authority house that had caught fire after the father had come home one night drunk, put on the deep fat frier to make himself something and promptly fell asleep. Both parents died, one of the children didn't make it due to smoke inhalation and the other was hospitalised. Our job was to clear out all of the possessions into the skip outside, and clearing out that poor boy's room was the one of the most harrowing ordeals that I had to go through. None of the other guys would do it - they just couldn't bring themselves to be in a room where a child had needlessly died due to smoke inhalation. Seriously folks; check those smoke alarms.
I live in a large house with no detectors of any kind. My mentally ill mother has taken them all down. She refuses to replace the batteries. I live in constant fear and anxiety of fire. This house is a death trap. I used to have to have home inspections for mental health services and they would just lie about everything on the report so nothing was ever addressed or fixed. They could have forced my mom to fix things but they refused.
@@thamertanner5448 What a horrible situation to be in. I obviously have no idea of what your living arrangements are, but would it be possible for you to at least have a fire alarm where you sleep? Ideally, they should be installed on ceilings, but one tucked out of view on a high shelf would offer some degree of protection. Something else you might think about is what you'd actually do if there was a fire. At least think through the moves you'd make to get out of the house if the normal exits were blocked by fire and smoke. Practice that if you can. Remember that few people are actually burned to death in fires; it's the smoke and toxic fumes that kill. So if there is ever a fire, stay as low as you can until you're out of the building, and focus on saving yourself so you can call the professionals to help anyone still inside.
Full respect for watching all these back to back, here in the UK they'd be in the middle of other adverts, which often increases the effect as you're not expecting it, but at least you don't spiral. Having such affect is how you know you're a decent human being, so don't forget that. Great reaction, thank you.
I'm amazed you get to show this on TV, and I mean that in the very very best of ways. This is how you force people to confront their bias, this is how you make people think. It's not political it's nothing but important messages to help your fellow humans. I legit had to step away for 20min halfway through, I cried and it's made me think more than anything I have ever ever ever seen.
I could only imagine a Cadbury’s ad with the “there’s a glass and a half in everyone” slogan at the end to that Bernardo’s one would hit way too hard on a Friday night
Britain takes safety seriously, especially of kids like you'll have seen. The barnardos one makes me cry every time, especially knowing people who've been helped through their help. You should watch the fire, road and drug safety presentations they show to kids in primary and high school
I used “Sarah’s Story” in my speaking and listening exam where we had to write and present a presentation for or against euthanasia and it’s an advert I still find hard to watch so I knew it would guarantee shock factor and get my point across. I think I got the highest grade I’ve ever received with that presentation. Powerful stuff.
I could almost feel your shock at the effectiveness of these adverts. But to be honest, if this 'shock' helps save one life every time someone watches, the price is worth it.
The Think, hit child talking on the roadside saying “if you hit me at 30…” advert I see in the UK stayed with me to this day. I watched it as a kid & still think about how driving just the thinnest bit over the speed limit could be the difference between life n death if there were to be an accident
@@Nims1186 i expected to see it too. I remembered some of these after seeing them now but the hit me at 30 one is the one that is a burnt into my memory
The thing that struck me is that the first advert was a response to 15 children dying in a year. Then we see the news about school shootings in the US and are shocked by the apparent lack of any meaningful response.
As someone in the US, we are even more horrified. We campaign, we protest, we write to legislators, we BEG the higher ups to do something… and yet I still have to send my son to school not knowing if he’s going to come home. I hate it here.
Yep, also British and remember so many of the PSA ads and short films we had growing up. They do stick in the mind! Farm dangers, electrocution, "Charlie says don't play with matches", firework dangers, crossing the road safely, speeding, " clunk click every trip" for seatbelts - the list goes on! These are ALL PSAs - we do have more "normal" commercials that sell stuff too!
Hi Beard. My father in law was a Barnardo's Boy. He grew into a fine man. Joined the Royal Navy as a youngster and won a (DSM) Distinguished Service Medal during WW2. For Valour. While serving on board HMS Aroura at Narvik 1940. Such a quite man never spoke of his award or the war. But always praised Barnardo's who he said gave him a good life as a youngster and made him the man he was. But true to British form, was direct, no sugar coating. Face things head on. Sometimes it takes a shock to shake some people out of lethargy. I think adverts as these are good, they make you listen and make you aware of changes we all can make. Bye the way your wearing a hat with my name on it. "wow"
If you don't think about situations they will get ignored and forgotten. These ads ensure you remember and are aware. Thank you for watching and posting this. If they spur one person into action they have done their job. Let's hope it's more than one. Watching 10 in a row is very heavy and emotional, you have my respect for getting through them.
The hardest hitting ads from my childhood were the drink driving ones, they hit so hard I never drove drunk and for the last 10 years haven't touched alcohol. I still remember the four guys sitting at a table in a pub staring at a woman walking past them, smash cut to her being flung across the room because they just hit her in their car. Been more than 20 years since I saw that one and it's still clear as day in my memory.
A proper reaction. Thank you. These adverts were not profit driven and they used very good creatives to script, act and direct mini stories within a limited time. These people are at the top of their game and need to deliver hard hitting but honest messages. They are meant to be cautionary or uplifting. To raise awareness, prevent harm and more. Wishy washy ads would be a waste of time and money.
One I remember from my younger years was the animated girl who got hit by a car. It was so creepy, it really scared me. I remember that they handed out reflective key rings at school to put on our bags so that cars would notice us. I have no clue how big of a problem kids getting hit by cars is here, but they really convinced me lol My uncle would show me some of the adverts from the 70s and I was really shocked that they were allowed to be shown on TV. But then again I suppose it was necessary
Grew up in the 90s in the UK. Those ads hit you where it hurts and were often the stuff of nightmares, literally sometimes. But they made you think and made you remember the message they were saying. They were made even more effective as they were shown for short runs of time and not every advert break. They would never be shown like this back to back as they were so hard-hitting. Well done on getting through them in one sitting. Not easy.
I'm a 51 year old British man and I felt every emotion you did. Seeing them all together hits even deeper than when they are shown alone. I will guarantee that you will have changed at least one person's life for the better. To do that is a wonderful thing and I thank you. Take care brother, and just keep doing you. That's all we can ask.
I enjoy so much of your content. This is probably the most genuine reaction i have ever seen on the channel. As much as these adds are hard to watch, they serve a purpose. Even if they only make you think once, its better than never.
I think it's the difference between our countries, from what I have seen the US tends to steer towards the optimistic, we tend to go with reality more, even when it's difficult to watch. I remember our hiv/aids awareness ads in the 80s, they were dark but got the message across.
Yeah, everything is fundamentally wonderful in The Greatest Country In The World™ and it's constantly getting even better. There are a few people with problems, but those are their own fault. School shootings are just the price you have to pay for freedom. Anyone can go from a minimum wage job to being a billionaire if they work really hard. Racism doesn't _really_ exist. Addicts are weaklings who need to get their shit together and get with the program.
5:07 reaction had me laughing 😂🤣. Welsh British here and I remember growing up with these public service announcements. I never played on a railway line, nor did I fetch a stray toy from a power station. These gave me nightmares but kept they kept me alive 😄
The title said it all. The director of each clip were exemplary. Your respect, showing very clearly that the effort and expect makes it all worth their efforts. Hitting the public right between the eyes gains much needed attention. These events happen daily in every country, city, town, village and home and folk need to be aware, acknowledge the signs and take the appropriate action NOW.
I'm proud that we live in a country that hits home hard the truth of life and hardship people go through. You don't help people by sugar coating the truth. Loved watching your reactions to this! 😊
You have proven their effectiveness. Can’t stand to watch but can’t tear your eyes away! They make people just realise that whilst most of us will never come across these situations, they do exist. A very real reaction.
As a English man born and bred I really feel I need to point out we do actually have quite a good sense of humour…although you wouldn’t think it watching these, but they do the job !!
The two that got me most here in the UK were ones called "See track, think train" and the other "Live with it". The train one had massive shock factor as it comes across like an advertisement for a family getaway or something, so the end shocks you. Live With It is about a man who's going about his life seeing the dead body of a boy he accidentally killed speeding, like under his desk and then the spine tingling last shot when he turns over in his bed. They're here on YT if you're curious.
In my secondary school everyone in S4 (age 16 roughly) had to go to a road safety day, where we were talked to by police, accident survivors and family of people who had accidents, and shown videos similar to these ones. It was very hard hitting, and it was common for people to need to leave because it was too much. Never forgot it.
Your silences said more than any words. Unfortunately the hard hitting adverts work the best. Many years ago my grandmother choked to death as my aunt watched because she panicked and had no idea what to do. She said sorry so many times even though no one blamed her. I realised that I could have been in the same situation so I immediately signed up to learn first aid and CPR. I used it only a few times over the years but I saved a man having a heart attack, a young man suffering a drug overdose and recognise someone going into shock and having concussion. So as yet I haven't used it to save a choking victim it was worthwhile learning😊
It's interesting how many of our most famous directors started out in advertising. Ridley and Tony Scott being two of the most famous, and Ridley's advert for Hovis bread was recently voted as the greatest Brit TV ad of all time. I think British advertising seems to understand the importance of great advertising to sell products or put forward a strong message.
As horrific as these are Alan, the purpose as you know is to make you think. I had so many emotions here. Fear, anger, plain shocked, disturbing & sickening to name a few. But they sure are the stuff of the nightmare that so many suffer. Thanks so much for responding to this, it’s needed!
Me too, a whole range of emotions. From anxiety and a few tears to elation and laughter at the pride I have in the fact that our charities, advertisers, broadcasters and regulators are willing to create and show these adverts, and that we are prepared to face harsh realities rather than turning a blind eye. That's the ideal anyway.
This is without a doubt the best reaction video I have ever seen! The reaction for the "Tree" infomercial was classic! I am British, and I know these are hard hitting, but am so proud that the government and charity's go to all this to help protect us in the long run. Serious things should not be easy to watch and if one child was saved because of these ads then it was all worth it.
Yeah our ads can be brutal. I often find myself in tears with some of them. We don’t mess around. When there’s a point to be made, we make it. It’s meant to haunt people so we don’t forget the messages behind it. I do believe these ads have saved lives because they are extremely hard hitting and un-forgettable. I’ve been caught off guard in a cinema with these types of ads before. Yup they’re shown in our cinemas too. These are shown too throughout the day. My teenagers have found some hard to deal with as they’re just so graphic. Barnados’s is a incredible charity that I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the years and that’s one charity that definitely doesn’t mess about with what they want to say. I think they’re the most hard hitting ads generally.
I spent 27 years as a volunteer member of St John Ambulance so I remember ads 9 and 4. We were trained very well though fortunately most of us, being volunteers, rarely saw much very deep stuff. In my 27 years I personally only once had to do CPR (1992 ish) and never had to deal with a choking, but I did see a lot of unconsciousness due to drugs and alcohol at the various pop/rock festivals or on 'drunk bus' duties, as well as a few broken bones in horse/sporting events. On the flip side, there was great cameraderie and great support and most of the time we went to events where nothing happened and had a great time. I met some amazing people and wonderful characters, some of whom I will never forget.
I think those ads were more for the first aid classes that the St John's Ambulance does. I learnt a fair bit at an early age, through my Mum having been a nurse, but first aid also changes with time as you know, so refreshers are always good.
@@ChelseaPensioner-DJW Well yes, they were, but I remembered those two specifically because I was a volunteer member. PS: St John Ambulance, not St John's Ambulance :)
As it says in the title, these ads were effective. They have saved lives. How is America doing on preventing unnecessary deaths? Our ads are blunt and disturbing, but they are impossible to ignore. Sometimes you need to shock people to make them understand.
We have psas (public service announcements) that do the same thing. I remember the smoking ones vividly! One had a baby crying as the smoke wafted in the room and then the baby just stopped crying. Scared me witless as a five year old. Most showed the effects of smoking on the body using real people. They work so well.
Thank you for reacting to these TV ads. I feel honoured that you have shared your emotions with me. I'm retired now, but I can remember seeing every one of these ads on my evening TV. In the UK, we have lots of feelgood adverts, so for an ad to have impact, it has to be different to the crowd. These ads are designed to hit by bringing the dark emotions to the fore. Even though I first saw some of these adverts many years ago, I still struggle with holding back the tears. I'm a sucker for the ones involving children, and a different advert back in the 1980s caused me to take up voluntary work with a children's group. I still have fond memories of the times when we made a difference to a child's life.
I remember when I was in primary school, they showed these types of ads during assembly, and I was traumatised for a while, it was about electrical safety, and it showed someone climbing a pylon, it ended with a shot where his brain was exposed.
#2 Torture by Any Other Name: It says something about the pulling power of some charities in the UK that they got double Oscar-winner Emma Thompson to play the role. And a good thing too! (This was 2007. She became chair of the Helen Bamber Foundation and last I heard she still was.)
In the same way our humour can be really close to the line, we are also ok with this sort of advert too. British adverts are often more than just "Buy our product", some of the advertising campaigns we have had are incredibly well thought out and are entertaining in their own right.
Now I think of it, one thing that might be worth checking out along the same lines would be Grange Hill. A kids TV show set in a school that often dealt with subjects that were very serious. Most notably was the story of Zammo who was addicted to Heroin. It was last the show that launched Ant and Dec into our screens, their story line involved Dec being blinded in a paintball accident.
Just came across your video - I have seen a lot of these over the year, brought up on them from a kid. I tell you what, growing up with these, they stick, there's a lot of road safety ones, over 40 years later I still look left and right before crossing a road even though I know it's empty it is so ingrained because of these. Thanks for showing these again.
I remember the PSA on TV in Britain about road safety aimed at kids. Two cartoon hedgehogs crossing the road singing a tune to remember stopping, looking and listening before crossing. That didn't stop drivers from being irresponsible. Should see the more realistic PSA's about speeding affecting others on the road. Brutal and gruesome but they only showed a small slice of reality and that was enough to make people think.
That one was aimed at children to be careful crossing roads. The darker one's are usually on later in the evening/night.I remember seeing the hedgehog one's as a kid between kids shows.
Yeah the hedgehog one is for the kids crossing the street. It would show on cartoon channels and that. I grew up with it. The harder hitting ones were for the adults that drove the cars. I also went on a school trip to this safety place at around 9 years old. One of the things there was a car. The car didn't move or anything, it was instead speakers on the walls of a hallway. They asked us to stand where they thought the car would stop going at different speeds. It showed us just how far a car can still travel even after slamming on the breaks. If the sound went past you, you were hit. Most of us would have been hit each time. Maybe that was a bit out of context, but I don't recall an advert ever explaining this. I actually didn't know the physics at that age. They also demonstrated trying to completely come to stop from a run and we realised we couldn't do it. I'm sure there are plenty of kids currently that don't realise a car won't be able to stop in time. I also learnt that a tissue box in the back of the car can become a brick when breaking from high speed. That always stuck with me haha.
@@sugarkitty2008 Having loose items in the car can be lethal. If a car comes to a sudden stop due to imapct, those loose items are still travelling at the speed that the car was moving. The new laws that are coming in on car cleanliness are coming in for a reason. Appropriate footwear has been an issue whilst driving for years and I know someone who drove into a wall because they were wearing flip flops. He wears secure footwear now. Many don't seem to care about loose items and trash in cars though. Firstly it's gross and secondly it's potentially lethal.
Watching this again I have to say the little girl in the final advert did an incredible job. Developing that thousand yard stare must be difficult for an adult actor and yet she hit it dead on.
And she continued to nail it in the continuation where things just continue to get worse. God, I hope they were able to make sure her mental health did not have to suffer for the sake of acting.
These are pretty brutal when you have them all together - well done getting through them! I remember seeing them on TV and the MND one really freaked me out. Partially because my Mum had a mix of MND and MS. I had to help her when she was choking too as she lost control of her throat muscles as her diseases got worse. It's absolutely terrifying watching someone you love gasp as they choke. Thankfully my sister and/or I were there each time so she was ok. If you're feeling brave enough, look at some of the old public safely/information films from the 70s/80s. Most of them are longer than an average advert and it's def better you just watch 1 at a time. I remember one I watched in school about an electrical substation, one which was sports day themed about playing on train tracks (I think it's called "the finishing line"), one about being safe around ponds and bodies of water and one called Apaches with kids playing on a farm. They're all pretty brutal considering they were made for kids!
I was born and raised in london, so I grew up seeing a lot of these adverts as a child. I think the last advert specifically was a shock to all of the british public who were not as aware of issues in other countries like syria. As a BME person in england, our communities are often more aware of things like this, and a lot of the time we actually specifically know people who have gone through the kinds of events like those in the adverts, so seeing it isn't as shocking for us. However I think the fact that they placed a caucasian british little girl (that would probably identify to someone who looks a lot like the average brits family member), in a situation that people all around the world go through everyday, was the true purpose of the advert. When there is someone who looks a lot like you and you can identify with that person, the issue/circumstances they are going through often hits a lot harder- so you can actually imagine it as if it were happening to you or your loved ones. This is a great advert, and a lot of my white friends were shocked upon seeing this. I think its a remider of the true reality that thousands of people go through everyday. Its a great reminder to pay attention to the causes going on around the world, and if you can, remember to donate to charities fighting to save the children in those circumstances!
I'm from the UK although I now live in Poland, but I remember most of adverts, particularly the "I Am a Crisis", "Sarah's Story" and "Break the Cycle" ones. But there are many different things about them: *These adverts are hard-hitting, but when they're broadcast, they're not broadcast consecutively. An advert break could consist of adverts for things such as Frosties cereal with a family being happy and jolly, then the next one might be SCS with some happy people jumping on some sofas which are £650 reduced from £950. And then suddenly, one of these adverts would come on, and then afterwards, it's back to an advert for ASDA with them bragging about how much cheaper than Tesco they are. This adds to the effectiveness of these safety adverts because they stand out more than if a whole bunch of them were broadcast one after the other. *ITV, which is the main advertising channel back home in the UK, is split up into regions which broadcast advertising both across the whole channel and whichever region your in. It's a hangover from the days when ITV was a collection of individual regional franchises which used to produce and broadcast content both for their own part of the country and to be put out across the whole ITV channel. Anyway, some of these adverts would have been shown in certain ITV regions, but not in others. So for example, I'm from Swansea in Wales, so the Transport for London one in this compilation with the motorcyclist who's just been knocked down by a car wouldn't have been broadcast on my home ITV region (ITV Cymru Wales) because Wales is in an entirely different part of the UK to London. We're literally on opposite ends of the country from each other. But ITV London would have shown it because it applies to London. Even the smoke alarm advert wouldn't have been shown in Wales because we have different standards and statistics when it comes to fire safety as we have devolution. The boy in the advert even mentions England specifically, so what would be the point of ITV Cymru Wales broadcasting an advert which doesn't affect us no matter of its message? Most of the channels which carry advertising in the UK are centralised from London, so even adverts for things which only affect England are still broadcast across the rest of the UK as well, so in those instances ones like the fire alarm advert would be shown nationally. But as ITV remains the biggest advertising broadcaster in Britain, it's just hit and miss with what adverts each region decides to broadcast even when it comes to safety adverts. *Our safety adverts don't pull any punches because that's just how we British are as a people and as a nation. American culture is just all about image and escapism, with the aim of getting the viewer out of their own lives for a certain amount of time and make them forget who they are and the lives they lead. In the UK we don't do that, at least not culturally. Everything from our soap operas to adverts are about social realism. With some exceptions, the majority of people in our adverts look just like us, the characters in our soap operas look just like us and are just like us, our safety adverts are effective because they don't beat around the bush. They tell you how it is and what could happen if you don't test a smoke alarm or know first aid. Long story short, we don't sugar coat things!
I was pretty surprised that none of the really hard hitting, graphic and visceral adverts that I remember as a kid weren't in this compliation. This seems to be strictly newer ones. You should do another video with a wider range of the UK ones as there are some serious "0 to 100" ones out there, often car or road related.
I think I remember one where a teenager is talking about how he's worried about his friends, how his mum seems to be struggling etc and if it was out nowadays you'd think it was raising awareness for mental health/check in with your friends. But then he sees his crying girlfriend being comforted by his best friend on the other side of the road, he gets angry thinking the friend is making a move on her and begins to step out to confront them and as soon as he does a car passes though him. Turns out his friends and family were mourning the loss of him after he stepped out onto a road without looking.
Having never seen what you talk about, could it be that youtube just straight up blocked that stuff? It's not uncommon for them to block stuff that's mildly upsetting, and the point of these adverts seem to be to provoke thought through making you upset.
@@JohanHultin They're definitely still around, but it looks like a lot of these UA-camrs kinda just used the same list someone put together and no-one really looked around for anything more.
I've always liked that our adverts can be so funny, so silly, uplifting, and entertaining. Then you also have this type, hard, uncompromising, dark, and deliberately in your face with the sometimes ugly realities they portray. I love these, they MAKE the viewer aware of things they might otherwise choose to ignore or turn away from. They can be truly disturbing, but I think a "softer" or more sanitised version would not be effective and could even minimise the subjects, leading to even more dismissive uncaring attitudes about them. They work precisely because they are raw and real. 👍
I’ve always been very proud of how blunt our public service adverts are. I always remember one from when I was a kid about the dangers of drinking the solvent white spirit. To this day I’m always mindful of where chemicals such as this are stored in my home. As you’ve already seen, we have a very dark and pessimistic view on things over here in the UK so when issues such as these need to be really brought home, the only way to do that is to go as shocking or dark as these are. Otherwise, the message would be forgotten.
my aunt worked for bernados in australia. 3 years whas all she could take as the stories where so horrendous the burnout rate was incredible. I helped at a couple of do's for fundraising and got to meets some of the kids and it was heartbreaking. the one that did me in was the 6 year old who taught himself to read and write from the age of 4 because his mother neglected him.
As a patreon viewer of yours Alan it’s good to see a different side of you & to see your views on a different side to humour….it’s good to see those adverts cause it’s reality & the world we live in
I was interested to observe your reaction to just these 10 adverts and watch how visibly disturbed you looked and felt, but there have been so many more made and aired on British TV since the 1960s (that's how far back I remember them!). If these topics touched you as an individual don't you think that a few similar 'dark' adverts, maybe syndicated on TV networks across the US might help to effect some sort of change in people's attitude to certain subjects (mass shootings in schools is the current one that sticks in my mind) and might just encourage people to look at things a little differently for the future. These adverts aren't produced by large film studios, nor are they done on large film budgets or have Hollywood directors making them, just a bunch of independent actors & crew putting these together along with an occasional "known" face to give things a little more weight. Remember, these made you stop and think about situations and subject matter which made you extremely uncomfortable in places, so think how a similar bunch of adverts could affect the American people if they were made in a hard hitting, very 'dark' 60 or 90 second segment? I'm an old man now, but these and so many more adverts like these still affect me in the same way that they did when I first saw them. On a lighter note, I really enjoy your reaction to our good old self deprecating British humour...keep it up!
I believe, judging by your apparent age, that you will remember some of my favourites. Do you remember the phrases: "Charlie says..." and "Here's Mike, he swims like a fish"? These ads certainly stick with you for a long time.
@@DruncanUK Oh yes, who could forget those public information films! Some people talk about more recent hard hitting adverts, but do you remember the old "Clunk-click, every trip" adverts which were made back in the day before convincing special effects & make-up became mainstream, when the motorist or passenger being interviewed in the advert had a face stitched up like a real life patchwork quilt? Of course, car windscreens weren't triple laminated back then....
Oh yes. If the British were commissioned to do a hard hitting commercial, for US tv, on school shootings and raising awareness for the need of background checks etc., you can guarantee it's going be hard hitting as hell and I'd bet graphic too. Depicting dead children (that the news won't show) and telling you how it could be your child next or something. Somehow I don't think any of the adverts like those we saw on this video would have a chance of being put on US tv screens. They'd get pulled, cancelled and all that stuff now.
I haven't seen adverts like these in about 6 years, and I'm sort of worried that I haven't, because it means these subjects are not being brought to the public eyes. We watched alot of these adverts during high school and the point was to educate us, alot of them were safety videos about not playing on train tracks or climbing into substations to collect your football
Its because the central office is defunct, they disbanded in 2012, I think THINK began around y2k time just before the millennium Fun fact for those that don't know; the central office of information was born from the ministry of information, they were the guys in charge of wartime propaganda, you can kinda see why they were as dark as they were
I'm now in my 50's & I can still remember the old 70's & 80's UK Government PSA adverts. They were hard hitting, but the more up-to-date ones are truly on another level. They are made with the full intention of shocking you & making the advert stick in your mind for a long time. Very powerful, very hard hitting & straight to point.
As a British person....with our humour..... We're used to it... It's not funny but we take it on board..they're not funny... We take it in.... Our humour always makes it better.... We can't help ourselves.
as a child i remember seeing one late at night which revolved rape i believe that was the most hard hitting one ive ever seen, our adverts over here intend to shock to entice people to take action and i can say historically this has worked massively in our favour
It was probably that campaign from the Home Office which tried to raise awareness of Abuse in relationships and I think it stared actors from Hollyoaks. There were also ones from Transport For London about Unbooked Taxi Drivers which they called "Cabwise", those were terrifying.
I don't have children and have always lived alone, but after seeing that advert the year it came out, I've always checked the smoke alarms at least twice a year, when i was younger i never bothered.
and Unfortunately a lot of people today dont respect water (dark and lonely water), electricity (electricity football), the train tracks ones, too many people today arent respectful of such things, I believe its in part the protecting kids from things, its gone too far and kids are totally unprepared for LIFE.
I have serious respect for this guy sitting down and watching these, he did not know what he was walking into. I'll never forget the THINK adverts (Especially the little girl one)
Good selection, hard hitting to say the least. In the UK, we either are overly polite, respectful and witty or brutally hard hitting, there doesn't seem to be much middle ground. That's I guess almost a reflection of our culture and our behaviour. The public safety adverts that were shown when I was growing up in the 70s & 80s were brutal and very graphic, you never forget them, and Brits talk about adverts quite a lot because they are usually memorable, and definitely in our top 10 of favourite things to talk about along with tea, the weather and what sweets (candy for the US readers) we remember from our childhood. Great reaction video, I could feel your pain. You deserve a strong cup of tea now old chap ;)
The last one got me with everything happening in Ukraine. There's a sign by a door they go through with a sign that looks like the Ukrainian flag. The horrendous suffering that Russia is causing there now, after they backed up Assad doing it in Syria is unforgivable. Never forget
Lol I haven't seen half of them but love your honest raw emotions and reactions. The adverts have deffinately left an impression on you for what ever reason
Apart from how moving they were I was amazed at the quality of the film making and the acting was fantastic. Also these weren't supposed to be watched back to back lol.
24:57 this is one of a few adverts I remember, perhaps because it was shown as I was into my teens so it's easier to recall. The ending is really hard hitting One of the others I semi-remember is the one with the kid talking about what happens if he's hit at 30mph versus a few mph more. I don't think I was shown many as a kid, mostly because I'd only watch kids TV and these would tend to be on family channels, but with the few I've seen, even if I don't remember the advert, I remember the message behind them. They do their job.
The tree fall really hit me when I first saw it. They didn't dramatize it, it's entirely realistic, even down to the thud as the boy hits the ground, no music, no sinister drum beat, just reality. That is why it hits like a sledgehammer.
@@permets2apollox453 Oh absolutely. That was a spot on parent panic scream. It just goes right through you. The little boys scream is perfectly done as well, it's not a stupid drawn out movie scream. He empties his lungs immediately in shock and when he hits the ground there is a little noise as the force pushes out the last bit of air. It's horrifyingly true to life.
I remember all of these now. Especially the one with the boy fallen off the tree. They're all dark and hard-hitting but they're designed to be to raise awareness of the darkness of some situations. They're terrible because they're meant to be terrible.
Watching all of these back to back is heavy stuff. I've been crying the whole way through so I've kind of let it out a bit, but I feel down now. These adverts/public service announcements are important and give you a heavy dose of reality to bring you back down to earth.
As a Brit, this was so awesome to watch! It’s so cool seeing your reactions to our PIFs. I’d love to see you react to HelloImAPizza’s entire channel! 😍
When one of these ads is running we may see them every 20 mins, every day for a month while tv is on from 9pm. As a person from the UK, it shocked me to see how much it disturbed you to see these. I hadn't considered that the UK advertising was more negatively impactful that the USA's. Im grateful for your views and sat with you through them all. It's made me realise just how much advertising is responsible for a degree of anxiety and mental health issues in the UK. On the flip side we also have great comedy which is why I subscribed after seeing your Les Dawson reaction. I wouldn't blame you for avoiding things like this in future. Your audience should considered your feelings when recommendations are put forward.
I know you said you wish you hadn't of reacted to this video, but we are so glad you did. I understand when you say that there are other ways to get the message across, but when it comes to serious life changing matters, putting the audience in an uncomfortable position is the only way to hit home the severity of the situation. Thank you for your reaction.
The 2008 bardardos advert was out of my brain until this video, as soon as I saw it I knew the one. It's crazy how easily stuff like that can stick in your head.
Well that was a surprise. I was expecting to see adverts for detergents, food, drink etc and wondered why you'd film your reaction to adverts. Understand now. I'm a 62 year old guy in UK and can't remember seeing any of these adverts. London featured a lot so perhaps they were for a London audience. I live up North in the UK. Your reaction to the cancer/choking advert made me laugh. You're obviously a sensitive soul. Enjoyed the video. Have subscribed. Take care my friend.
I'm British so have grown up on hard hitting public service/charity adverts. Some of the public service ads from my childhood that were aimed at children were so terrifying I've never forgotten them. The boy getting electrocuted by the power line, the kid drowning in the river, the kid getting run over by the train - really hard hitting and gritty. We don't sugar coat anything in the UK!
The scream from the one where a kid drinks from a bottle in a shed...
The ad of the road safety when the focus goes into the school trip there loads which are very effective for their purpose compared to other countries which the point doesn’t get across as much
Yes I remember them adverts to as a kid.. Really stuck with me granted was always safe and didn't do silly things but still.. After the railway one I was terrified to go on trains for a bit just incase it got me while on the train.. The things we think of as kids ey
Road safety ads were either cute hedgehogs singing "stop, look, listen and we're staying alive" or kids being brutally murdered by a speeding car. There was no inbetween.
I
It's not f*cked up, it's reality. These things happen and it takes impactful adverts like these to get things done. Genius advertising in my opinion.
Absolutely. They're also not really designed to be watched one after another, it becomes like emotional beating. Granted, I DO think they should be watched, but maybe not binge-watched like this, otherwise the message of each individual one might not be fully taken in. "See The Child" is one that actually got me reaching for the phone.
No point pretending everything is fine and dandy if it isnt🤌
I totally agree, this is the reality for alot of people, why would you sugar-coat the truth
In a way, both statements are true. It's f*cked up BECAUSE it's reality. Especially the ones concerning abuse, trafficking and war, situations that victims are forced into against their wills because of the selfishness and cruelty of those who are more "powerful".
For an American, they won't see this kind of stuff because healthcare is a profit centre. They don't want you to be well.
The Brits don't pull punches when it comes to public safety ads. Australia and New Zealand followed suit. I think it's good, and it's proven very effective.
Ireland as well
Today the Australian central medical data agency announced that less than 11% of Australians smoke. These kind of hard hitting ads work!
France as well, Guess it's a European thing, when it come to public safety, there is no sugar coating it.
@@oscarosullivan4513 yeah doe has scarred me for life. But I will never drink and drive, not wear a seatbelt or distract a driver
Absolutely right with NZ
Context For non uk viewers - The one where the boy falls out of the tree isn’t promoting ambulance service or career it’s a charity which is volunteer led with provides health and first aid. They’re really amazing and just in 2021 trained half a million people in life saving skills. They also trained 30,000 people to give vaccines during the pandemic. ❤️
Another important side note, you dont pay for the ambulance to come get you
@@arthour051 a
@Rob Lynn but everything to do with the difference betwe US and UK ambulances, even the volunteer ones
@Rob Lynn ... They operate an ambulance service that provids emergency medical care *that you the patient do not have to pay for* unlike in the united states where such an organisation *would charge you, the patient, for their services*
@Best Behave The UK will never introduce services requiring people to pay for medical assistance. If you are American and can't quite understand it, look at it like one of our forms of Constitutional Rights - free healthcare.
As an aussie who grew up with similar style ads. And seeing multiple americans react like you to this stuff makes me think your country has done itself a disservice by not having this around to show some of the harsher shit that happens in life.
The US' Montana Meth Project is pretty heavy. And the director for some of those was also responsible for the British PIF "Kathy Can't Sleep".
In Britain there is a road safety organisation called THINK and they’ve made some horrific adverts over the years. You could do a whole video consisting of just those
I was surprised the Julie knew her killer advert wasn't there. The only one I have actually seen on telly out of these was the fire alarm one.
The most dangerous for children was the 70s clunk click adverts.
I remember as a kid I think I saw some
if you hit me at 30...
Yeah that one with the ginger kid lying dead, haunting the man who accidentally killed him was the best one
About 20 years ago I was trying to give up smoking but struggling. There were a few adverts on at the time. One had a mum explaining to her child about why the mum was dying of lung cancer due to smoking. My 3 year old daughter saw it and burst into tears begging me not to smoke and die. I stopped there and then because of that and haven't smoked since. Nasty but they work.
when you think about it that might well have saved your life. its entirely possible that right now you could be in the position of that mum from the advert if you hadn't stopped. make the most of all the years you have yet to come and enjoy every moment of your life. oh and give your daughter a hug when you see her :)
Me and my sister saw that ad and told my mom to stop smoking - she promised she would stop but only cut down. Eventually we started cutting up her cigarettes, then she started hiding them, so we would look everywhere for them and cut them up. Eventually it became economically unviable to keep smoking and she hasn’t smoked since. She said we were really annoying at the time (and wasted her a lot of money) but she’s glad we did it.
@@ajdo1991 When the kids know better than their elders...
My grandmother had a heart attack at 40 because of her smoking, my mother told her if she ever wanted to see her grandkids again, she will stop, if she didn't and ended up in hospital again, she wouldn't visit.
She didn't, continued to have 1 with some friends, ended in hospital again after an angina attack, mother never visited then she stopped.
I remember the one with the man who was explaining why he had to have his
long removed through a malignant tumour around the same time and distinctively
remember his exact words, this was all due to smoking, that little white stick that
you put in your mouth and at 34 I shouldn’t be going through this.
I have to say I am proud of our hard hitting adverts. They are representing serious problems, so they need to upset/provoke people. I remember the "Break the cycle" one over a decade ago and it stayed with me for years.
Unfortunately we don't see anything of the like these days with UK ads.
@ Lord Flashheart That’s because the original adverts worked so well that the problem no longer exists 😂.
You Britts are just amazing at this stuff, care from Sweden!
Maybe brits should do adverts for gun control🤔🤔🤔🤔
The one that's stayed with me is the "hit me at 30 there's an 80% chance I'll live. Hit me at 40 there's an 80% chance I'll die" I can still hear the bonus cracking back into place till this day!
Having been through domestic abuse as a child, the Bernados one is actually pretty accurate. Thats how we be, and I'm so grateful to the people who invest so much time in putting people like us back together. I'm now doing a masters at a great university, and one day I would love to adopt a child and give them a better life than I had! :)
❤️❤️❤️
😘😘😘
I'm sorry you had to face such cruelty, but I am glad you are on the path of healing. I wish you well and a happier, safer life.
👍
Yeah I'm British, they would show adverts like this in primary school. I still remember them now, genuinely traumatic, if you're an adult it's still even shocking
I think adverts like this though are why the British are smarter on alot of levels and have more common sense. These were part of our growing up learning. I still think the ones from the 80s and 90s that I grew up with were worse than some that came in the noughties. American adverts are about being loud and brash not really conveying anything, they wouldnt even touch some of the things we in the UK have seen in adverts.
@@samstevens7888 oh yeah, the ones from the 80s were savage! They definitely stay with you
You say we have f****d up advertising, I say we have effective advertising. What is advertising supposed to do? Sometimes you have to make people feel uncomfortable to get the right response. I appreciate your channel, but I am so proud to live in a country that can sometimes treat it's tv audience with some respect and not pander to the lowest common denominator.
But of course we have the government that we have, so brain-donor Nadine is determined to sell Channel 4 in her rush to the lowest common denominator. You speak of respect for the audience, which falls into the same category as respect for the law and respect for electors with these people: a punchline at a drinks party.
If these adverts save one life surely it’s worth a bit of discomfort to the viewing pubic. I’m not saying have them every commercial break but now and again IMO.
How do we measure the effectiveness of ads like this though? Sounds like you're just assuming they're effective because they make people feel uncomfortable. Doesn't mean that the types of people that need to see and understand these ads take any notice. Smokers still smoke despite the graphic images printed on cigarette packets.
@@megadesu69
The charities run campaigns, measure the effect upon donations, memberships, etc., and keep running this type of advert or don't. That is the measure.
ua-cam.com/video/kam0WRzJW9g/v-deo.html
Scotland
This is why British comedians are so good. We hit everything head on. No subtlety when you need to make an impact - whether good or bad.
And we are using a wrecking ball to do the hitting.
@@paulj7736 sometimes that's needed to get through to some people
And so many of our films too. Everything in America is either selling you something or pure escapism, they just don't seem to deal in reality. Not one American movie is in my Top 50.
Yeah Russel Howard is one good example of this. He should reeeally do a tour of America again.
@@danielwhyatt3278 Really? Russel is good but they should get the full on Frankie Boyle and Jimmy Carr standup. The trouble is that most of them would need an interpreter for Frankie 😆
The one advert that always stuck with me was a road safety one. It depicted a mother driving her two children. Daughter in the front seat and son behind her. The car was involved in a smash and the son was thrown forward, hitting his mother's seat, which forced it forward, crushing her. He landed dazed in the back seat with a nose bleed while his sister screamed. I don't even think I was very old when that advert was doing the rounds but damn straight I always did my seatbelt up.
"What did he do after killing his mother? He sat back down."
Yeah, that one stuck with me too.
Ohh yes I remember that ..shocking
@@tnexus13 belt up in the back… for everyone’s sake.
I remember that advert. I saw it as a child and it stuck with me. So effective and so horrible.
Indeed, that ad traumatised me so much I legit started getting up and walking out the room whenever I saw the car; but I wouldn’t change a thing about it.
When I was a bit younger I saw an advert against drinking and driving. It all focussed on a classroom with an empty desk. The missing child had been killed by a drunk driver. The teacher's and all the children's faces looked grief stricken. Then the child narrator ended by just saying "he was my best friend". I just burst into tears. I have never, ever touched a drop if I'm driving since I saw that advert. I just hear that little boy saying "he was my best friend".
I have to say these adverts do make me proud that as country we can call a spade a spade and take the attitude that sometimes you need to be upset, sometimes you need to be made uncomfortable. Sometimes some things are more important than how upset you feel.
Honestly it’s interesting to see an American react to this, because as much as these ads might have traumatised us as children, growing up with them has made us feel like this is the standard for advertising, and at least for me I no longer get traumatised as much but rather am able to accept the message they are trying to portray.
13 years ago there was an anti smoking advert on British tv where a little girl says all the stuff she's not scared of like monsters, the dark, the neighbours dog. Then she said "there is one thing I'm scared of... I'm scared my mummy's going to die" it then shows her mum smoking with other parents outside the school. My son was one when I saw that. I went straight to the stop smoking nurse a couple of days later. It took me 4 trys but I've stopped smoking for 6 years now. They're hard to watch but definitely work ❤
My family as a collective stopped smoking when I saw that advert myself and told my mom about it. I couldn’t have been older then 11
congrats! take it step by step, you’ve got this :)
I always hated the one with the little girl using an ashtray as make up
The most effective anti-smoking advert I ever saw was two guys looking at a very attractive girl coming into the pub. The One says to the other. "It's like kissing an old ashtray.",
I learned never to smoke before people could try to get me to try it, as a child I saw both my Nan's smoke themselves to death, as an adult I watched my step dad do the same despite me trying to help him quit, those memories are always there like scars
I'll congratulate you for having the willpower to quit and sticking to it,
These are from some of our great UK charities, and provide a reality check where it's needed. I especially appreciate how they treat the audience with the intelligence and respect to be able to draw their own conclusions and make the right choice at the end of the ad.
They're a great way to make people feel horrible so they donate to charities (which may or may not be trustworthy). Even if good intentioned, it's not really the best way to go about it in my opinion. These modern disturbing ads are like a symptom of the decline of our society.
@@megadesu69 I've grown up in the UK and while this compilation has focused on the hard hitting adverts of the past decade primarily, this is definitely not a modern thing. Obviously, I didn't see many adverts like these before about 30 years ago (these adverts only air after the children are in bed and I'm only in my 40s), but they were definitely getting people's attention even before that. We brits have a different approach to Americans and I can definitely see how these adverts would hit a lot harder for those not used to being confronted with the harsher side of life. That's not to say that these don't hit hard even for a Brit. It's worth noting that these adverts would also be a lot more spread out rather than seeing 10 of them in less than 30 minutes.
They make people feel horrible to save lives and it works
@@megadesu69 a lot of them aren't for profit though. The first aid, and safety ads are rarely asking for donations. For example I remember a railway safety ad where a girl walks backwards onto the tracks and doesn't see the train. It hits hard and I am now always super careful around train tracks. These types of ads save lives.
@@shibadawn whenever i watch reactions to these compilations i have to skim through the video beforehand to make sure that ad isn't in there because that one shat me up so much when i was younger, i remember not being able to listen to "let me love you" by Ne-Yo because the first time i saw that ad was during an ad break for the x factor or bgt where he performed it, they're so effective, but do traumatise people aswell
There was an advert in New Zealand about speeding,"Its better to arrive late than dead on time"...very effective.
Some of the New Zealand and Australian PSA's even put us Brits to shame.
Sometimes you have to use a sledgehammer to crack a Pea!
With all the BS Softly, Softly ads in the media these days, Shock is really the only way to send a message. Until its cancelled because some idiot gets upset by it...... that's the Point!
The UK has a similar one ..It says like being hit at 40 you have a 80% chance of dying, hit at 30 you have a 80% chance of living.. or something.. they ofc use a child being hit by a car.
Just a little story about St Johns Ambulance, a local woman served in St Johns for many, many years, she was also our Lollipop Lady (road crossing safety) she had two sons both with degenerative diseases.
She didn't come from a rich background, lived in a council house and yet she was, apart from my parents, possibly the most influential person in my early life.
Mrs Moorby, thank you for everything you did!
You're a good man EB. It was very clear that these adverts hit you hard, especially all together. They used to show adverts like this when I was in primary school, especially about road safety.
In my 10 + years of driving I've never gone over the limit because all I hear in my head is 'if you hit me at 40'. If you know you know.
Oh man this one is the WORST and i was actually expecting it on this list. I can still hear the bones cracking. I was only about 15 when this advert came out but it stuck with me throughout learning how to drive and how to behave on the roads. Another is the rail crossing one where it shows strewn luggage all over rail tracks and then an empty car seat
Yep, that ad is seared into my brain.
I can still hear her voice in my mind, as well as the sound effects they added.
I was expecting that advert too. I remember it to this day and am always careful in built up areas, checking ahead of me between cars etc. Im so thankful too as a little boy ran in front of my car after a ball once and I was able to stop well in advance because of that awareness. And luck I guess. Xxxx
@@clairehayward4521 they really need to bring these sorts of ads back! Too many people playing with their own lives and others
@@giveyourheadawobblee I agree.
The British are renowned for doing things in a dark manner, whether it be humour, or in this case impact advertising.
Nothing traditionally British about these disturbing guilt-tripping adverts. They're a symptom of modern times and I'd wager they contribute to a more fearful society.
@@megadesu69 Dude, we had pSA's in school featuring kids being htt by trains and drinking bleach, feck off. Its british af
@@megadesu69 if they save one childs life they worked and they are worth it. You call it guilt tripping, normal people call it awareness
@@megadesu69 Don't talk bollocks.
They contribute to a better society
Man, when the UK does adverts, they do adverts *REALLY* well.
As a Kiwi, I can get behind all of them.
*edit: US advertising seems to me as 'mere' entertainment for the masses.
In the UK, at least, and many other European countries it's more about the message.
Grotesque? Because MND is a grotesque disease. Can't sugarcoat that in any way. Can't be lighthearted, fun.
Hard hitting, indeed. And then some.
And what acting..
mnd one of the most horrible diseases imaginable you could be a perfectly healthy person at a young age and then the next minute all your body is shutting down slowly while your brain stays fine, trapped in a paralysed body unable to move or communicate and slowly dying. saying it is grotesque is putting it lightly.
We do adverts for entertainment, allow me to introduce you to... CILIT BANG! BANG AND THE DIRT IS GONE! 😂😂😂😂
Nothing we have in the UK beats "ghost crisps bruh"
Every TV program that comes out of the UK is amazing. Watch their 1 season shows with fewer than 10 episodes, and theyre awesome still. We in North America like quantity over quality, different o'rthere.
I remember being shown a PSA about smoke alarms in year 5 and it gave me an irrational fear of smoke alarms not working ever since. the ads sure are effective, better to be scared of it than careless.
Actually something else has occurred to me, the first Bernado's one where the guy was regressing back to a child showing all the trauma is actually positive because it does show at the beginning that he does eventually end up in a good place because of the support he gets from the charity (although it's a long slog to get there)
They’re all brilliant because they all achieve their sole purpose which is to raise awareness to situations.
There is no point sugar coating shit.
@@redfog42 exactly, the world is not a fair and free place. We are fortunate even having a dry, safe place to live, with decent food and clean water - that is an unimaginable luxury for a large percentage of humans. Terrible things are happening to good people who have done nothing wrong - daily, by the million.
And they make you STOP and THINK, that's why they're so GOOD.
@@mikestarkey7989 Exactly. They also stick with you because they are so effective.
I dunno about that. Some of them feel like they're guilting you into supporting charities etc which imo isn't the right way to go about it.
One of the last jobs worked on when I worked in construction, was clearing out a local authority house that had caught fire after the father had come home one night drunk, put on the deep fat frier to make himself something and promptly fell asleep. Both parents died, one of the children didn't make it due to smoke inhalation and the other was hospitalised. Our job was to clear out all of the possessions into the skip outside, and clearing out that poor boy's room was the one of the most harrowing ordeals that I had to go through. None of the other guys would do it - they just couldn't bring themselves to be in a room where a child had needlessly died due to smoke inhalation.
Seriously folks; check those smoke alarms.
I live in a large house with no detectors of any kind. My mentally ill mother has taken them all down. She refuses to replace the batteries. I live in constant fear and anxiety of fire. This house is a death trap. I used to have to have home inspections for mental health services and they would just lie about everything on the report so nothing was ever addressed or fixed. They could have forced my mom to fix things but they refused.
@@thamertanner5448 What a horrible situation to be in. I obviously have no idea of what your living arrangements are, but would it be possible for you to at least have a fire alarm where you sleep? Ideally, they should be installed on ceilings, but one tucked out of view on a high shelf would offer some degree of protection. Something else you might think about is what you'd actually do if there was a fire. At least think through the moves you'd make to get out of the house if the normal exits were blocked by fire and smoke. Practice that if you can. Remember that few people are actually burned to death in fires; it's the smoke and toxic fumes that kill. So if there is ever a fire, stay as low as you can until you're out of the building, and focus on saving yourself so you can call the professionals to help anyone still inside.
What a terrible thing to have to do. You’re made of strong stuff, in my book you're a hero.
Full respect for watching all these back to back, here in the UK they'd be in the middle of other adverts, which often increases the effect as you're not expecting it, but at least you don't spiral. Having such affect is how you know you're a decent human being, so don't forget that. Great reaction, thank you.
I think he needs a hug. I hope he doesn't watch the ones about child safety. I've seen them break American commentators half way through
I'm amazed you get to show this on TV, and I mean that in the very very best of ways. This is how you force people to confront their bias, this is how you make people think. It's not political it's nothing but important messages to help your fellow humans. I legit had to step away for 20min halfway through, I cried and it's made me think more than anything I have ever ever ever seen.
I could only imagine a Cadbury’s ad with the “there’s a glass and a half in everyone” slogan at the end to that Bernardo’s one would hit way too hard on a Friday night
Britain takes safety seriously, especially of kids like you'll have seen. The barnardos one makes me cry every time, especially knowing people who've been helped through their help. You should watch the fire, road and drug safety presentations they show to kids in primary and high school
I used “Sarah’s Story” in my speaking and listening exam where we had to write and present a presentation for or against euthanasia and it’s an advert I still find hard to watch so I knew it would guarantee shock factor and get my point across. I think I got the highest grade I’ve ever received with that presentation. Powerful stuff.
I could almost feel your shock at the effectiveness of these adverts. But to be honest, if this 'shock' helps save one life every time someone watches, the price is worth it.
The Think, hit child talking on the roadside saying “if you hit me at 30…” advert I see in the UK stayed with me to this day.
I watched it as a kid & still think about how driving just the thinnest bit over the speed limit could be the difference between life n death if there were to be an accident
Agree. That was the one that immediately came to my mind and I was expecting to see here!
@@Nims1186 i expected to see it too. I remembered some of these after seeing them now but the hit me at 30 one is the one that is a burnt into my memory
If you hit me at 30mph, there is around 80% I live. But you if you hit me at 40mph, there is around 80% I die. Stop trying to hit me.
@@Renegade2786 Good old Russel Howard!
I still think of this one while driving!
The thing that struck me is that the first advert was a response to 15 children dying in a year.
Then we see the news about school shootings in the US and are shocked by the apparent lack of any meaningful response.
As someone in the US, we are even more horrified. We campaign, we protest, we write to legislators, we BEG the higher ups to do something… and yet I still have to send my son to school not knowing if he’s going to come home. I hate it here.
@@keatonscreations If you are genuinely "horrified" for your child's safety, leave
@@ericlarson3597 in order to leave they have to pay the us government, not even kidding
@@SeagodWolf The safety of a child takes precedence over money
@@ericlarson3597 If they can't afford it there's literally nothing they can do.
Yep, also British and remember so many of the PSA ads and short films we had growing up. They do stick in the mind! Farm dangers, electrocution, "Charlie says don't play with matches", firework dangers, crossing the road safely, speeding, " clunk click every trip" for seatbelts - the list goes on!
These are ALL PSAs - we do have more "normal" commercials that sell stuff too!
Hi Beard. My father in law was a Barnardo's Boy. He grew into a fine man. Joined the Royal Navy as a youngster and won a (DSM) Distinguished Service Medal during WW2. For Valour. While serving on board HMS Aroura at Narvik 1940. Such a quite man never spoke of his award or the war. But always praised Barnardo's who he said gave him a good life as a youngster and made him the man he was. But true to British form, was direct, no sugar coating. Face things head on. Sometimes it takes a shock to shake some people out of lethargy. I think adverts as these are good, they make you listen and make you aware of changes we all can make. Bye the way your wearing a hat with my name on it. "wow"
If you don't think about situations they will get ignored and forgotten. These ads ensure you remember and are aware. Thank you for watching and posting this. If they spur one person into action they have done their job. Let's hope it's more than one.
Watching 10 in a row is very heavy and emotional, you have my respect for getting through them.
The hardest hitting ads from my childhood were the drink driving ones, they hit so hard I never drove drunk and for the last 10 years haven't touched alcohol. I still remember the four guys sitting at a table in a pub staring at a woman walking past them, smash cut to her being flung across the room because they just hit her in their car. Been more than 20 years since I saw that one and it's still clear as day in my memory.
@@jollybodger One that sticks with me is the one with 'celebration' playing in the background.... the ending of that really hits you.
i don't think this guy was ready for this. May we never stop creating these adverts. They genuinely make a difference.
A proper reaction. Thank you. These adverts were not profit driven and they used very good creatives to script, act and direct mini stories within a limited time. These people are at the top of their game and need to deliver hard hitting but honest messages. They are meant to be cautionary or uplifting. To raise awareness, prevent harm and more. Wishy washy ads would be a waste of time and money.
One I remember from my younger years was the animated girl who got hit by a car. It was so creepy, it really scared me. I remember that they handed out reflective key rings at school to put on our bags so that cars would notice us. I have no clue how big of a problem kids getting hit by cars is here, but they really convinced me lol
My uncle would show me some of the adverts from the 70s and I was really shocked that they were allowed to be shown on TV. But then again I suppose it was necessary
Grew up in the 90s in the UK. Those ads hit you where it hurts and were often the stuff of nightmares, literally sometimes. But they made you think and made you remember the message they were saying. They were made even more effective as they were shown for short runs of time and not every advert break. They would never be shown like this back to back as they were so hard-hitting. Well done on getting through them in one sitting. Not easy.
I'm a 51 year old British man and I felt every emotion you did. Seeing them all together hits even deeper than when they are shown alone. I will guarantee that you will have changed at least one person's life for the better. To do that is a wonderful thing and I thank you. Take care brother, and just keep doing you. That's all we can ask.
I enjoy so much of your content. This is probably the most genuine reaction i have ever seen on the channel. As much as these adds are hard to watch, they serve a purpose. Even if they only make you think once, its better than never.
Horrible and dark but I'll bet you remember them
I remember watching as a kid
I think it's the difference between our countries, from what I have seen the US tends to steer towards the optimistic, we tend to go with reality more, even when it's difficult to watch. I remember our hiv/aids awareness ads in the 80s, they were dark but got the message across.
Yeah, the difference between The Day After and Threads.
By optimistic I think you mean stay in denial.
@@stevenicol1 I was trying to be polite 😄 but yeah fair enough
@@ggenie7489 😄 I don't know if sugar coating important issues is really being optimistic though Gill, just seems like madness.
Yeah, everything is fundamentally wonderful in The Greatest Country In The World™ and it's constantly getting even better. There are a few people with problems, but those are their own fault. School shootings are just the price you have to pay for freedom. Anyone can go from a minimum wage job to being a billionaire if they work really hard. Racism doesn't _really_ exist. Addicts are weaklings who need to get their shit together and get with the program.
5:07 reaction had me laughing 😂🤣. Welsh British here and I remember growing up with these public service announcements. I never played on a railway line, nor did I fetch a stray toy from a power station. These gave me nightmares but kept they kept me alive 😄
The title said it all.
The director of each clip were exemplary.
Your respect, showing very clearly that the effort and expect makes it all worth their efforts.
Hitting the public right between the eyes gains much needed attention.
These events happen daily in every country, city, town, village and home and folk need to be aware, acknowledge the signs and take the appropriate action NOW.
I'm proud that we live in a country that hits home hard the truth of life and hardship people go through. You don't help people by sugar coating the truth. Loved watching your reactions to this! 😊
You have proven their effectiveness. Can’t stand to watch but can’t tear your eyes away! They make people just realise that whilst most of us will never come across these situations, they do exist.
A very real reaction.
As a English man born and bred I really feel I need to point out we do actually have quite a good sense of humour…although you wouldn’t think it watching these, but they do the job !!
The two that got me most here in the UK were ones called "See track, think train" and the other "Live with it". The train one had massive shock factor as it comes across like an advertisement for a family getaway or something, so the end shocks you. Live With It is about a man who's going about his life seeing the dead body of a boy he accidentally killed speeding, like under his desk and then the spine tingling last shot when he turns over in his bed. They're here on YT if you're curious.
In my secondary school everyone in S4 (age 16 roughly) had to go to a road safety day, where we were talked to by police, accident survivors and family of people who had accidents, and shown videos similar to these ones. It was very hard hitting, and it was common for people to need to leave because it was too much. Never forgot it.
Your silences said more than any words. Unfortunately the hard hitting adverts work the best.
Many years ago my grandmother choked to death as my aunt watched because she panicked and had no idea what to do. She said sorry so many times even though no one blamed her. I realised that I could have been in the same situation so I immediately signed up to learn first aid and CPR. I used it only a few times over the years but I saved a man having a heart attack, a young man suffering a drug overdose and recognise someone going into shock and having concussion. So as yet I haven't used it to save a choking victim it was worthwhile learning😊
It's interesting how many of our most famous directors started out in advertising. Ridley and Tony Scott being two of the most famous, and Ridley's advert for Hovis bread was recently voted as the greatest Brit TV ad of all time. I think British advertising seems to understand the importance of great advertising to sell products or put forward a strong message.
As horrific as these are Alan, the purpose as you know is to make you think. I had so many emotions here. Fear, anger, plain shocked, disturbing & sickening to name a few. But they sure are the stuff of the nightmare that so many suffer. Thanks so much for responding to this, it’s needed!
Me too, a whole range of emotions. From anxiety and a few tears to elation and laughter at the pride I have in the fact that our charities, advertisers, broadcasters and regulators are willing to create and show these adverts, and that we are prepared to face harsh realities rather than turning a blind eye. That's the ideal anyway.
This is without a doubt the best reaction video I have ever seen! The reaction for the "Tree" infomercial was classic! I am British, and I know these are hard hitting, but am so proud that the government and charity's go to all this to help protect us in the long run. Serious things should not be easy to watch and if one child was saved because of these ads then it was all worth it.
Yeah our ads can be brutal. I often find myself in tears with some of them. We don’t mess around. When there’s a point to be made, we make it. It’s meant to haunt people so we don’t forget the messages behind it. I do believe these ads have saved lives because they are extremely hard hitting and un-forgettable.
I’ve been caught off guard in a cinema with these types of ads before. Yup they’re shown in our cinemas too. These are shown too throughout the day. My teenagers have found some hard to deal with as they’re just so graphic.
Barnados’s is a incredible charity that I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the years and that’s one charity that definitely doesn’t mess about with what they want to say. I think they’re the most hard hitting ads generally.
I spent 27 years as a volunteer member of St John Ambulance so I remember ads 9 and 4. We were trained very well though fortunately most of us, being volunteers, rarely saw much very deep stuff. In my 27 years I personally only once had to do CPR (1992 ish) and never had to deal with a choking, but I did see a lot of unconsciousness due to drugs and alcohol at the various pop/rock festivals or on 'drunk bus' duties, as well as a few broken bones in horse/sporting events.
On the flip side, there was great cameraderie and great support and most of the time we went to events where nothing happened and had a great time. I met some amazing people and wonderful characters, some of whom I will never forget.
Much respect to you dave, even though you were a volunteer you were still a valuable part of our nhs
I think those ads were more for the first aid classes that the St John's Ambulance does.
I learnt a fair bit at an early age, through my Mum having been a nurse, but first aid also changes with time as you know, so refreshers are always good.
@@ChelseaPensioner-DJW Well yes, they were, but I remembered those two specifically because I was a volunteer member. PS: St John Ambulance, not St John's Ambulance :)
As it says in the title, these ads were effective. They have saved lives. How is America doing on preventing unnecessary deaths? Our ads are blunt and disturbing, but they are impossible to ignore. Sometimes you need to shock people to make them understand.
We have psas (public service announcements) that do the same thing. I remember the smoking ones vividly! One had a baby crying as the smoke wafted in the room and then the baby just stopped crying. Scared me witless as a five year old. Most showed the effects of smoking on the body using real people. They work so well.
Thank you for reacting to these TV ads.
I feel honoured that you have shared your emotions with me.
I'm retired now, but I can remember seeing every one of these ads on my evening TV.
In the UK, we have lots of feelgood adverts, so for an ad to have impact, it has to be different to the crowd.
These ads are designed to hit by bringing the dark emotions to the fore.
Even though I first saw some of these adverts many years ago, I still struggle with holding back the tears.
I'm a sucker for the ones involving children, and a different advert back in the 1980s caused me to take up voluntary work with a children's group. I still have fond memories of the times when we made a difference to a child's life.
British TV adverts are the best in the world imo. The serious ones hit home hard, and the funny ones are truly hilarious.
I remember when I was in primary school, they showed these types of ads during assembly, and I was traumatised for a while, it was about electrical safety, and it showed someone climbing a pylon, it ended with a shot where his brain was exposed.
#2 Torture by Any Other Name: It says something about the pulling power of some charities in the UK that they got double Oscar-winner Emma Thompson to play the role. And a good thing too! (This was 2007. She became chair of the Helen Bamber Foundation and last I heard she still was.)
Not just Oscar-winner, but Dame Emma Thompson DBE :) She is an amazing woman who has all of my respect.
In the same way our humour can be really close to the line, we are also ok with this sort of advert too.
British adverts are often more than just "Buy our product", some of the advertising campaigns we have had are incredibly well thought out and are entertaining in their own right.
Now I think of it, one thing that might be worth checking out along the same lines would be Grange Hill. A kids TV show set in a school that often dealt with subjects that were very serious. Most notably was the story of Zammo who was addicted to Heroin. It was last the show that launched Ant and Dec into our screens, their story line involved Dec being blinded in a paintball accident.
@@custardavenger Ant and Dec came from Biker Grove not Grange Hill.
Th meerkats are a hoot
I remember pretty much every single one of these. Just shows how effective they were.
I'm from the uk and grew up watching these type of ads still get chills up my spine seeing them now
Just came across your video - I have seen a lot of these over the year, brought up on them from a kid.
I tell you what, growing up with these, they stick, there's a lot of road safety ones, over 40 years later I still look left and right before crossing a road even though I know it's empty it is so ingrained because of these.
Thanks for showing these again.
I remember the PSA on TV in Britain about road safety aimed at kids. Two cartoon hedgehogs crossing the road singing a tune to remember stopping, looking and listening before crossing. That didn't stop drivers from being irresponsible. Should see the more realistic PSA's about speeding affecting others on the road. Brutal and gruesome but they only showed a small slice of reality and that was enough to make people think.
That one was aimed at children to be careful crossing roads. The darker one's are usually on later in the evening/night.I remember seeing the hedgehog one's as a kid between kids shows.
Yeah the hedgehog one is for the kids crossing the street. It would show on cartoon channels and that. I grew up with it. The harder hitting ones were for the adults that drove the cars.
I also went on a school trip to this safety place at around 9 years old. One of the things there was a car. The car didn't move or anything, it was instead speakers on the walls of a hallway. They asked us to stand where they thought the car would stop going at different speeds. It showed us just how far a car can still travel even after slamming on the breaks. If the sound went past you, you were hit. Most of us would have been hit each time.
Maybe that was a bit out of context, but I don't recall an advert ever explaining this. I actually didn't know the physics at that age. They also demonstrated trying to completely come to stop from a run and we realised we couldn't do it.
I'm sure there are plenty of kids currently that don't realise a car won't be able to stop in time.
I also learnt that a tissue box in the back of the car can become a brick when breaking from high speed. That always stuck with me haha.
@@sugarkitty2008 Having loose items in the car can be lethal. If a car comes to a sudden stop due to imapct, those loose items are still travelling at the speed that the car was moving. The new laws that are coming in on car cleanliness are coming in for a reason. Appropriate footwear has been an issue whilst driving for years and I know someone who drove into a wall because they were wearing flip flops. He wears secure footwear now. Many don't seem to care about loose items and trash in cars though. Firstly it's gross and secondly it's potentially lethal.
Watching this again I have to say the little girl in the final advert did an incredible job. Developing that thousand yard stare must be difficult for an adult actor and yet she hit it dead on.
And she continued to nail it in the continuation where things just continue to get worse. God, I hope they were able to make sure her mental health did not have to suffer for the sake of acting.
These are pretty brutal when you have them all together - well done getting through them! I remember seeing them on TV and the MND one really freaked me out. Partially because my Mum had a mix of MND and MS. I had to help her when she was choking too as she lost control of her throat muscles as her diseases got worse. It's absolutely terrifying watching someone you love gasp as they choke. Thankfully my sister and/or I were there each time so she was ok.
If you're feeling brave enough, look at some of the old public safely/information films from the 70s/80s. Most of them are longer than an average advert and it's def better you just watch 1 at a time. I remember one I watched in school about an electrical substation, one which was sports day themed about playing on train tracks (I think it's called "the finishing line"), one about being safe around ponds and bodies of water and one called Apaches with kids playing on a farm. They're all pretty brutal considering they were made for kids!
That’s the point it’s too shock people into listening
I was born and raised in london, so I grew up seeing a lot of these adverts as a child. I think the last advert specifically was a shock to all of the british public who were not as aware of issues in other countries like syria. As a BME person in england, our communities are often more aware of things like this, and a lot of the time we actually specifically know people who have gone through the kinds of events like those in the adverts, so seeing it isn't as shocking for us. However I think the fact that they placed a caucasian british little girl (that would probably identify to someone who looks a lot like the average brits family member), in a situation that people all around the world go through everyday, was the true purpose of the advert. When there is someone who looks a lot like you and you can identify with that person, the issue/circumstances they are going through often hits a lot harder- so you can actually imagine it as if it were happening to you or your loved ones. This is a great advert, and a lot of my white friends were shocked upon seeing this. I think its a remider of the true reality that thousands of people go through everyday. Its a great reminder to pay attention to the causes going on around the world, and if you can, remember to donate to charities fighting to save the children in those circumstances!
I'm from the UK although I now live in Poland, but I remember most of adverts, particularly the "I Am a Crisis", "Sarah's Story" and "Break the Cycle" ones. But there are many different things about them:
*These adverts are hard-hitting, but when they're broadcast, they're not broadcast consecutively. An advert break could consist of adverts for things such as Frosties cereal with a family being happy and jolly, then the next one might be SCS with some happy people jumping on some sofas which are £650 reduced from £950. And then suddenly, one of these adverts would come on, and then afterwards, it's back to an advert for ASDA with them bragging about how much cheaper than Tesco they are. This adds to the effectiveness of these safety adverts because they stand out more than if a whole bunch of them were broadcast one after the other.
*ITV, which is the main advertising channel back home in the UK, is split up into regions which broadcast advertising both across the whole channel and whichever region your in. It's a hangover from the days when ITV was a collection of individual regional franchises which used to produce and broadcast content both for their own part of the country and to be put out across the whole ITV channel. Anyway, some of these adverts would have been shown in certain ITV regions, but not in others. So for example, I'm from Swansea in Wales, so the Transport for London one in this compilation with the motorcyclist who's just been knocked down by a car wouldn't have been broadcast on my home ITV region (ITV Cymru Wales) because Wales is in an entirely different part of the UK to London. We're literally on opposite ends of the country from each other. But ITV London would have shown it because it applies to London. Even the smoke alarm advert wouldn't have been shown in Wales because we have different standards and statistics when it comes to fire safety as we have devolution. The boy in the advert even mentions England specifically, so what would be the point of ITV Cymru Wales broadcasting an advert which doesn't affect us no matter of its message? Most of the channels which carry advertising in the UK are centralised from London, so even adverts for things which only affect England are still broadcast across the rest of the UK as well, so in those instances ones like the fire alarm advert would be shown nationally. But as ITV remains the biggest advertising broadcaster in Britain, it's just hit and miss with what adverts each region decides to broadcast even when it comes to safety adverts.
*Our safety adverts don't pull any punches because that's just how we British are as a people and as a nation. American culture is just all about image and escapism, with the aim of getting the viewer out of their own lives for a certain amount of time and make them forget who they are and the lives they lead. In the UK we don't do that, at least not culturally. Everything from our soap operas to adverts are about social realism. With some exceptions, the majority of people in our adverts look just like us, the characters in our soap operas look just like us and are just like us, our safety adverts are effective because they don't beat around the bush. They tell you how it is and what could happen if you don't test a smoke alarm or know first aid. Long story short, we don't sugar coat things!
I was pretty surprised that none of the really hard hitting, graphic and visceral adverts that I remember as a kid weren't in this compliation. This seems to be strictly newer ones. You should do another video with a wider range of the UK ones as there are some serious "0 to 100" ones out there, often car or road related.
I was ready to watch some of the ones I have seen before but half way through and haven't seen one. These are all new to me but along the same lines.
I think I remember one where a teenager is talking about how he's worried about his friends, how his mum seems to be struggling etc and if it was out nowadays you'd think it was raising awareness for mental health/check in with your friends. But then he sees his crying girlfriend being comforted by his best friend on the other side of the road, he gets angry thinking the friend is making a move on her and begins to step out to confront them and as soon as he does a car passes though him. Turns out his friends and family were mourning the loss of him after he stepped out onto a road without looking.
Like the one where the car rolls over those small children?
Having never seen what you talk about, could it be that youtube just straight up blocked that stuff? It's not uncommon for them to block stuff that's mildly upsetting, and the point of these adverts seem to be to provoke thought through making you upset.
@@JohanHultin They're definitely still around, but it looks like a lot of these UA-camrs kinda just used the same list someone put together and no-one really looked around for anything more.
I've always liked that our adverts can be so funny, so silly, uplifting, and entertaining. Then you also have this type, hard, uncompromising, dark, and deliberately in your face with the sometimes ugly realities they portray. I love these, they MAKE the viewer aware of things they might otherwise choose to ignore or turn away from. They can be truly disturbing, but I think a "softer" or more sanitised version would not be effective and could even minimise the subjects, leading to even more dismissive uncaring attitudes about them. They work precisely because they are raw and real. 👍
I’ve always been very proud of how blunt our public service adverts are. I always remember one from when I was a kid about the dangers of drinking the solvent white spirit. To this day I’m always mindful of where chemicals such as this are stored in my home.
As you’ve already seen, we have a very dark and pessimistic view on things over here in the UK so when issues such as these need to be really brought home, the only way to do that is to go as shocking or dark as these are. Otherwise, the message would be forgotten.
my aunt worked for bernados in australia. 3 years whas all she could take as the stories where so horrendous the burnout rate was incredible. I helped at a couple of do's for fundraising and got to meets some of the kids and it was heartbreaking. the one that did me in was the 6 year old who taught himself to read and write from the age of 4 because his mother neglected him.
As a patreon viewer of yours Alan it’s good to see a different side of you & to see your views on a different side to humour….it’s good to see those adverts cause it’s reality & the world we live in
I was interested to observe your reaction to just these 10 adverts and watch how visibly disturbed you looked and felt, but there have been so many more made and aired on British TV since the 1960s (that's how far back I remember them!). If these topics touched you as an individual don't you think that a few similar 'dark' adverts, maybe syndicated on TV networks across the US might help to effect some sort of change in people's attitude to certain subjects (mass shootings in schools is the current one that sticks in my mind) and might just encourage people to look at things a little differently for the future. These adverts aren't produced by large film studios, nor are they done on large film budgets or have Hollywood directors making them, just a bunch of independent actors & crew putting these together along with an occasional "known" face to give things a little more weight. Remember, these made you stop and think about situations and subject matter which made you extremely uncomfortable in places, so think how a similar bunch of adverts could affect the American people if they were made in a hard hitting, very 'dark' 60 or 90 second segment? I'm an old man now, but these and so many more adverts like these still affect me in the same way that they did when I first saw them.
On a lighter note, I really enjoy your reaction to our good old self deprecating British humour...keep it up!
I believe, judging by your apparent age, that you will remember some of my favourites. Do you remember the phrases: "Charlie says..." and "Here's Mike, he swims like a fish"? These ads certainly stick with you for a long time.
@@DruncanUK Oh yes, who could forget those public information films! Some people talk about more recent hard hitting adverts, but do you remember the old "Clunk-click, every trip" adverts which were made back in the day before convincing special effects & make-up became mainstream, when the motorist or passenger being interviewed in the advert had a face stitched up like a real life patchwork quilt? Of course, car windscreens weren't triple laminated back then....
@@DruncanUK Learn to swim, young man. Learn to swim.
"I wish i didn't keep losing me birds!"
Fairy godmother: " Then learn to swim, young man! Learn to swim! "
Oh yes. If the British were commissioned to do a hard hitting commercial, for US tv, on school shootings and raising awareness for the need of background checks etc., you can guarantee it's going be hard hitting as hell and I'd bet graphic too. Depicting dead children (that the news won't show) and telling you how it could be your child next or something.
Somehow I don't think any of the adverts like those we saw on this video would have a chance of being put on US tv screens. They'd get pulled, cancelled and all that stuff now.
22:26 That was acclaimed actress Emma Thompson in the horrifyingly effective ‘Helen Bamber Association’ ad.
I haven't seen adverts like these in about 6 years, and I'm sort of worried that I haven't, because it means these subjects are not being brought to the public eyes.
We watched alot of these adverts during high school and the point was to educate us, alot of them were safety videos about not playing on train tracks or climbing into substations to collect your football
I saw the last advert 2 or 3 years ago
I think its probably because alot of people watch things on netflix for example. Which doesnt include adverts at all.
Its because the central office is defunct, they disbanded in 2012, I think THINK began around y2k time just before the millennium
Fun fact for those that don't know; the central office of information was born from the ministry of information, they were the guys in charge of wartime propaganda, you can kinda see why they were as dark as they were
I'm now in my 50's & I can still remember the old 70's & 80's UK Government PSA adverts. They were hard hitting, but the more up-to-date ones are truly on another level.
They are made with the full intention of shocking you & making the advert stick in your mind for a long time. Very powerful, very hard hitting & straight to point.
As a British person....with our humour..... We're used to it... It's not funny but we take it on board..they're not funny... We take it in.... Our humour always makes it better.... We can't help ourselves.
as a child i remember seeing one late at night which revolved rape i believe that was the most hard hitting one ive ever seen, our adverts over here intend to shock to entice people to take action and i can say historically this has worked massively in our favour
It was probably that campaign from the Home Office which tried to raise awareness of Abuse in relationships and I think it stared actors from Hollyoaks. There were also ones from Transport For London about Unbooked Taxi Drivers which they called "Cabwise", those were terrifying.
I don't have children and have always lived alone, but after seeing that advert the year it came out, I've always checked the smoke alarms at least twice a year, when i was younger i never bothered.
These are all phenomenal adverts. Sadly UK ads are much more tame these days although a couple of these still play.
and Unfortunately a lot of people today dont respect water (dark and lonely water), electricity (electricity football), the train tracks ones, too many people today arent respectful of such things, I believe its in part the protecting kids from things, its gone too far and kids are totally unprepared for LIFE.
I have serious respect for this guy sitting down and watching these, he did not know what he was walking into. I'll never forget the THINK adverts (Especially the little girl one)
Good selection, hard hitting to say the least. In the UK, we either are overly polite, respectful and witty or brutally hard hitting, there doesn't seem to be much middle ground. That's I guess almost a reflection of our culture and our behaviour. The public safety adverts that were shown when I was growing up in the 70s & 80s were brutal and very graphic, you never forget them, and Brits talk about adverts quite a lot because they are usually memorable, and definitely in our top 10 of favourite things to talk about along with tea, the weather and what sweets (candy for the US readers) we remember from our childhood. Great reaction video, I could feel your pain. You deserve a strong cup of tea now old chap ;)
The last one got me with everything happening in Ukraine. There's a sign by a door they go through with a sign that looks like the Ukrainian flag. The horrendous suffering that Russia is causing there now, after they backed up Assad doing it in Syria is unforgivable. Never forget
Lol I haven't seen half of them but love your honest raw emotions and reactions. The adverts have deffinately left an impression on you for what ever reason
Apart from how moving they were I was amazed at the quality of the film making and the acting was fantastic. Also these weren't supposed to be watched back to back lol.
Man you got some guts to watch these back to back, mad respect. I used to see a lot of them while living in London it's... Always a hard watch
24:57 this is one of a few adverts I remember, perhaps because it was shown as I was into my teens so it's easier to recall. The ending is really hard hitting
One of the others I semi-remember is the one with the kid talking about what happens if he's hit at 30mph versus a few mph more.
I don't think I was shown many as a kid, mostly because I'd only watch kids TV and these would tend to be on family channels, but with the few I've seen, even if I don't remember the advert, I remember the message behind them. They do their job.
The tree fall really hit me when I first saw it. They didn't dramatize it, it's entirely realistic, even down to the thud as the boy hits the ground, no music, no sinister drum beat, just reality.
That is why it hits like a sledgehammer.
And the sheer desperation in how he yells help. The quality of the acting can't be underestimated either
@@permets2apollox453
Oh absolutely. That was a spot on parent panic scream. It just goes right through you. The little boys scream is perfectly done as well, it's not a stupid drawn out movie scream. He empties his lungs immediately in shock and when he hits the ground there is a little noise as the force pushes out the last bit of air. It's horrifyingly true to life.
I remember all of these now. Especially the one with the boy fallen off the tree. They're all dark and hard-hitting but they're designed to be to raise awareness of the darkness of some situations.
They're terrible because they're meant to be terrible.
Watching all of these back to back is heavy stuff. I've been crying the whole way through so I've kind of let it out a bit, but I feel down now. These adverts/public service announcements are important and give you a heavy dose of reality to bring you back down to earth.
As a Brit, this was so awesome to watch! It’s so cool seeing your reactions to our PIFs.
I’d love to see you react to HelloImAPizza’s entire channel! 😍
When one of these ads is running we may see them every 20 mins, every day for a month while tv is on from 9pm. As a person from the UK, it shocked me to see how much it disturbed you to see these. I hadn't considered that the UK advertising was more negatively impactful that the USA's. Im grateful for your views and sat with you through them all. It's made me realise just how much advertising is responsible for a degree of anxiety and mental health issues in the UK. On the flip side we also have great comedy which is why I subscribed after seeing your Les Dawson reaction. I wouldn't blame you for avoiding things like this in future. Your audience should considered your feelings when recommendations are put forward.
I know you said you wish you hadn't of reacted to this video, but we are so glad you did. I understand when you say that there are other ways to get the message across, but when it comes to serious life changing matters, putting the audience in an uncomfortable position is the only way to hit home the severity of the situation. Thank you for your reaction.
One of your best videos ever. So genuine and the adverts serve the purpose they set out to do. It’s hard but we have to face upto these things.
didn't think you were going to make it through to the end. Great reaction video and so glad you did it
The 2008 bardardos advert was out of my brain until this video, as soon as I saw it I knew the one. It's crazy how easily stuff like that can stick in your head.
Well that was a surprise. I was expecting to see adverts for detergents, food, drink etc and wondered why you'd film your reaction to adverts. Understand now. I'm a 62 year old guy in UK and can't remember seeing any of these adverts. London featured a lot so perhaps they were for a London audience. I live up North in the UK. Your reaction to the cancer/choking advert made me laugh. You're obviously a sensitive soul. Enjoyed the video. Have subscribed. Take care my friend.