This Is Your Brain on Scary Ads
Are these graphic PSAs inspiring or offensive? You decide.
The image is meant to shock: a little girl's face atop a woman's body, cleavage spilling over a low-cut cocktail dress. Behind it, the explanation: "When you look at a young girl as something more, you need help." The ads are disturbing, to put it mildly. But more disturbing, its creators say, is what they're trying to combat: 71 percent of teen pregnancies in inner-city Milwaukee are the result of statutory rape. The ads never made it into print—United Way pulled them after they leaked online and led to a minor tempest. But industry experts say the campaign represents a genre of public-service advertising that's becoming more lurid than ever.
Shock advertising is an age-old gimmick. But compared with milder fare from years past ("This is your brain on drugs"), today's imagery is "like a sledgehammer to the face," says Steve Hall, founder of the industry blog AdRants. For instance: the ad displayed above—an anti-drunk-driving spot for Arrive Alive—featuring a scantily clad girl collapsed in a men's bathroom. Experts have called it muddled and pointlessly provocative.
Still, deterrence by disgust can work. In 2006, a series of Volkswagen safety ads drew attention for showing its cars in heart-stopping traffic accidents; within weeks, sales inquiries were up. A more recent ad for Canadian workplace safety features a glowing young chef describing her fiancé, whom she'll never marry, she says, because she's about to be in a "terrible accident." She then slips and scorches her face with a cauldron of boiling water. The series of ads, all based on real accidents, has collected 1.7 million YouTube views. "Some small amount of discomfort is worth it if it creates positive change," says Gary Mueller, founder of Serve, the agency behind the statutory-rape ads. The small discomfort, though, is getting bigger.
Click here to see a gallery of shock ads.
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Member Comments
Posted By: pikachurepurfekt @ 03/15/2008 10:09:13 PM
Comment: i encourage you not to be so judgemental. in that same breath, i don't know you, your brother in law, or his little "girlfriend", but if they claim to be in "love", live and let live. would you rather him be promiscuous with numerous younger girls? no. luckily, the girls parents are in concordance with the relationship, which is a hell of a lot more than i can say. i resent you calling your brother-in-law an "offender", because obviously if he "can't get a woman his own age" hes just as "insecure" as the girl. just because people have sex doesnt mean the man is "using" the woman. wanna hear what makes me sick? disgusting piggish rapists who live in sexist countries in which they can get away with raping women because of ridiculous court rulings like "this girl must have consented, because she was wearing jeans which are impossible to remove unless the one wearing them does so, thus consenting". it also makes me sick that in some states, girls who are 12,13,14, and my age, 15, can have sex with anyone they want, legally (and it is happening). my "offender" is 4 years 5 months older than me. if i were 16, it would be legal (im 7 months away). if he were 18, it would be legal (hes 11 months too old). now, his future is destroyed, and my once memorable sexual experience is viewed merely as a disgusting rape. thanks so much.
Posted By: pikachurepurfekt @ 03/15/2008 9:13:38 PM
Comment: it is refreshing to see your statement "lets not fool ourselves into thinking consensual sex is a sexual offense. we can have reasonable statutory rape laws, but i believe the laws we have now are overly-rigid and make sex offenders out of normal people".
i could not have said it more clearly. not only is this ridiculously communist law ruin the future of the one person who i could count on for the past six months, it marginalizes the severity of REAL rape cases. its idiotic to think that i dont have a voice. im 15, but im not psychologically impaired. frankly, its an insult to my intelligence. our government, while it is great and just in many ways, is disgustingly wayward in this statutory rape law. i miss my best friend, i will never get to see or hear from him again, i cry myself to sleep every night (its been three months) because of how he will suffer as an effect of my dumb idea. yes, IT WAS MY IDEA TO HAVE SEX. im not all that innocent, so, HELLO WORLD, stop labeling me as a dumbshit. i admit, i should not have risked his safety and well-being by engaging in sexual behavior with him. hes the real victim here. but that doesn't make the act wrong. whats wrong is the hatred and fear that took me away from him.
Posted By: pikachurepurfekt @ 03/15/2008 8:41:00 PM
Comment: i lost my best friend because of this dumb *** statutory rape law. im 15, a sophomore, hes 19, a senior. we knew eachother for months before anything happened. we eventually broke up, i didnt cut myself, i wasnt emotionally devastated, he never psychologically abused me or pressured me, i wasnt emotionally scarred. we remained friends that is, until my parents found out. now hes facing jailtime, for treating me like he would treat any girl that he cared about. im not saying the law shouldnt exist, because there are instances in which it is necessary. in my experience, its not. how can people who have been raped not have the closure of putting their offender away because theres "not enough evidence" to do so? why can girls my age choose to murder their babies, but i cant have sex with my boyfriend? i know, most of these men are disgusting ***, but can that really be construed as a crime? lessons need to be learned: little girls, including myself, dont be stupid. luckily, i didnt get screwed over , but i did lose my best friend.