Concerned Children's Advertisers
Remembering 'The Chase,' A Rare Fail In The Annals Of Canadian PSAs
How could the nation that brought us the North American House Hippo go so badly wrong?
I love Canada, my home and native land -- a lot of people do, both in and outside the country. But even non-Canadian Canuckophiles may not know that there's one area in which Canada, surprisingly, really distinguishes itself, and that's the conception and production of TV PSAs. Seriously, Canada excels at all kinds of PSAs. There's the kind that are meant to delight and inform children, like this long-running spot for the War Amps, graced with a tagline that literally every Canadian my age can quote from memory.
This one -- urging media literacy for children -- instead may have sent them all begging their parents for pet house hippos like...the 101 Dalmatians of house hippos.
But Canada is also great at PSAs that are effective by being completely fucking horrifying, like this one warning about keeping conditions safe in a restaurant kitchen.
This thing is so gnarly that it requires a content warning ON YOUTUBE.
But no one has a perfect record, and that includes Canada's PSA producers. To wit: "The Chase."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vov0QZ1ZyCM
See, this boy doesn't want to get kissed by girls! He's not ready! And they WON'T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER! It's cute!
Granted, when this spot was conceived in the early '90s, rape culture was not a thing most people had heard of. And even the boobs who came up with this idea must have known that switching the sexes of its characters would have put off viewers. But let's just consider that for a second: viewers would have been disturbed by the implication that (a) a girl was about to be the victim of a form of sexual assault, because (b) she wasn't in good enough shape to outrun her attackers. I realize this is taking the concept to the extreme, but: JESUS.
"But Tara," you say. "Now we know better! We understand that boys can be victimized by unwanted sexual attention by girls. This PSA would never happen now!" And you're probably right: no one in advertising would ever present this idea for a new PSA today. BUT THIS ONE -- WHICH PIVOTS FROM BODY-SHAMING TO NON-CONSENSUAL PHYSICAL CONTACT -- JUST AIRED ON CANADIAN TV LAST WEEK.
Canada, please throw this PSA into the dustbin of history.
And take this crappy CGI Astar with it.