A similar PSA by Ontario's brewers' retail monopoly to fight against allowing beer in convenience stores took a beating in Canadian media.
But its scare tactics pale in comparison to the epically shoddy writing, acting, and production in this anti-privatization one by UFCW Local 1776, the union representing public Wine & Spirits employees in Pennsylvania:
As Consumerist puts it, "it’s at least good for a laugh while trying to ride out the rest of your Friday afternoon at work."
To prove how vulnerable your personal information is, Internet Explorer 8 recreated notorious internet scams--live, off the web-- in the most street-smart city in world: New York. Watch what happened.
New Yorkers scammed by a bricks-and-mortar version of a common Internet fraud? As Mashable notes, the social experiment exposes "just how gullible we can be when the promise of money is dangled in our face."
Whether a new version of Internet Explorer can actually protect humans from their own gullibility remains to be seen. Same goes for whether a clever ad can trick users into trusting IE8.
I often look for blog ideas by searching social media press releases for public service announcements. However, it soon becomes obvious that the occasional self-styled "PSA" is actually serving someone else entirely.
Case-in-point:
"Fort Lauderdale, FL (PRWEB) April 20, 2010 -- HairLoss.com, the Internet's most comprehensive resource for unbiased consumer information and education concerning hair loss solutions and conditions, has released the second of a series of animated, one-minute-long public service announcements titled "Hair is Important".
According to Michael Garcia, spokesman for HairLoss.com, this second video release "aims to illustrate to the public that men and women who are trying to restore their hair are really trying to restore much more than just their hair."
The video states that hair is so important that is gives people the confidence to project who they are, allowing them to accomplish great things, while a montage of noted historical figures with notable hair, from politicians to entertainers, is shown."
Here's the "PSA":
Now, let me state for the record that I still have all my hair. Hell, I even have hair in places that are no longer fashionable. But if I were ever to start balding noticeably, I'd do what my female friends refer to as "doing the honourable thing" and crop it down, Captain Picard style.
And what's wrong with that? The HairLoss.com video would have me think that a head full of hair is necessary to project "who we are" and "what we believe in".
It's apparently needed to lead... (for good or evil)
to make an impression...
to express a viewpoint...
and to entertain.
Yeah — baldness is for losers, and fake hair is for winners.
