PSA

The public service announcement holds a fairly unique niche in the popular culture. It provides an interesting barometer for where the government, and I’ll assume other interest groups, place their values. Now as I’m sitting back and watching me some Super Sweet 16 on MTV, I can’t help but get agitated by the PSAs that flash across my screen. Do they say anything that’s entirely wrong? No, less people smoking cigarettes is a good thing; there is no way in hell you’ll see me argue for tobacco directly. But I find it offensive to the intelligence of Americans (yes, I still think there is some of that left) that campaigns such as “Truth” apply the same tactics as a tobacco company would, while demonizing the tactics of the tobacco companies. And what tops it all off is the fact that the recent ads even end with “what if all companies sold products like big tobacco?” This may be a news flash for the less media savvy, but all companies sell products like big tobacco. I can’t take this ad seriously at all because the premise is illogical, but let’s think a little deeper. What differentiates Joe Cool (the animated camel mascot for Camel cigarettes) from Ronald McDonald (the scary clown from McDonalds)? They are both targeting children (Ronald McDonald even more so). They are both selling a product. Most people would agree that the products are unhealthy for you. But yet, I can still watch a commercial with a smiling clown selling me genetically engineered meat sitting next to fries that were once fried in animal byproducts and trans-fats. In a consumerist society everybody is selling you things you don’t need, whether that be cigarettes or washing machines, there is very little difference; everything detracts from your well-being, your health, or your sense of self worth. I’m probably one of the few people who feel bad for big tobacco; they were thrown under the bus while alcohol (yeah, super healthy, and causes no deaths) and fast food, and the gun lobby (everyone go watch Thank You For Smoking) just laugh and rake in the cash. Want to know my views on how this all turned into a clusterfuck of stupidity? We treat the symptom, and neglect curing the disease. If you ban and hinder everything deemed “bad” by the government we’ll all wind up in some Orwellian nightmare. The cancer that is eating away this country is stupidity, not the 2+2 variety, but the “hey, the guy on TV said it was good, I should buy 10 of ‘em” kind of stupidity. You want to help fight the plagues of society, educate the children in some kind of critical thinking, instead of raising them to blindly swallow everything they are given. Stop teaching them ideology thought through by somebody else, and teach them to make their own ideology. Of course this will never happen, why would McDonalds want kids who see through their ads or Ford want people who can see through a patriotic commercial for a truck they can’t afford?… Why would the government want citizens who question how much “Truth” is actually behind their PSAs?

Also of interest to me are these ridiculous new anti-sexting ads. These ads are the old guard making some kind of last attempt at controlling the sexuality of young Americans, while simultaneously embracing a culture that teaches that sex is one of the few things that really matter (along with money, and power); and I find that pretty laughable. It’s hilarious that in America, somebody can be charged with production of child pornography for taking photos of themselves (don’t believe me? look it up); and yet we have shows like Toddlers and Tiaras, which are actually produced with a straight face and a sick sense of hilarity through exploitation. I was reading something, I forget where from, but it was speaking of how nudity is not inherently sexual, but is instead deemed so by the culture it is placed in. Following that line of logic, these PSAs are a direct reflection of what is deemed “mainstream culture”. And apparently our sense of sexuality is just as fucked as it was in the 1950s, or the 1750s. So let’s examine one of these ads.

First off, this was made by MTV, so lets just assume its hypocritical. Ok, first who is the protagonist, ok, a relatively hot…You know what, this will probably be easier in sarcastic list form.

1. Its sent to her boyfriend. Heaven forbid a teenage girl be sexually intimate with someone who isn’t her boyfriend, if at all.
2. You know what’s a good idea guys? Let’s put a sexually charged commercial (featuring a nude girl) on TV to keep kids from sending sexually charged photos! Brilliant!
3. I haven’t seen one with a guy yet, so apparently its cool for guys to send pictures of their junk to girls. Good old double standard sexism.
4. Let’s follow this PSA with an episode of the Real World, where a chick gets drunk, strips naked and has a threesome. “What was that? …Mixed messages? Fuck off, You’re fired!”
5. Girls should be afraid of their nude body (so afraid they don’t let their dogs see them naked!?). This is very important, because why would a person who’s comfortable with themselves spend tons of money on jewelry, make-up, and fashion to improve their self image.
6. I wouldn’t call this ad racist, but they would’ve had a hard time finding a more anglicized person of color.

Being straightforward here, these people are using a recent advancement in technology, and a logical effect of that technology, to help push an outdated view (in my opinion) of sexuality, one that I wouldn’t halt myself in calling puritanical. American culture is sexualized and glamorized, and yet some people still wonder why teenage girls sext photos of themselves. Some spend a life being so much less than these fictionalized and idealized women that you’d do anything to get some of the attention they garner. Even if that means sending nude photos to a guy who says you’re hot, for some twisted kind of praise. To me this ad and others are the definition of hypocrisy, and to continue to air them on MTV and expect no one to make the connections I made (which are not hard to make) is insulting.

Really my view on this is contradictory; I’m both for and against sexting. I’m all for the sexual realization and empowerment of the youth of today. But I also don’t want somebody so fucked up by popular teen culture (cough, MTV) sending nudes to gain some self esteem, just to lose it when that same culture vilifies them for doing so.

You’ll notice I didn’t mention any anti-drug PSA, more specifically any anti-pot ads. Really, at this point I hope everyone can realize how many lies and misdirection they force feed you on this specific topic. I’ll just say that every hippie, most every musical artist, most people of intellect are right… and the government is wrong; 27.5 billion wasted dollars wrong.

Because that was depressing, here’s what should be a PSA, it has a semi-popular celebrity warning about the dangers of taking too many drugs…

-Kyle

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