What am I doing, I don't even LIKE beets!

August 19, 2009 6:51 AM

Many TV-savvy Canadians will be familiar with the distinctive painted exclamation mark of the Concerned Children's Advertisers. For nearly 20 years, the CCA has partnered with broadcasters across the country in order to produce and air PSAs aimed at kids. This has resulted in some classic spots on such topics as drug use prevention, media literacy, and more recently a series on the importance of fitness. A personal favorite: the alternately endearing and terribly creepy Don't You Put It In Your Mouth (feat. Scary, Anemic Lion).

(The CCA has a Youtube channel and also provides a great deal of extra material and higher-quality video at their website. The final spot is thanks to the inimitable RetroWinnipeg.)

posted by Monster_Zero (13 comments total)

The anemic Lion isn't the scariest part, it's that some Hannibal-Lecter-like dude carved people's eyes out and used them to make those puppets.
posted by XMLicious at 6:59 AM on August 19, 2009

It's like a production of "Bad Uncle, Bad Touch" put on by the animatronics at Chuck E. Cheese.
posted by DU at 7:07 AM on August 19, 2009

I can't believe I still remember the words to Don't You Put It In Your Mouth. Damn you, brain!
posted by threetoed at 7:31 AM on August 19, 2009

I grew up making jokes about how dontcha put it in your mouth, 'till you ask someone you love was a PSA about marital infidelity.
...I didn't have many friends as a child.

Although I do want a tiny edible puppet guitar, that would be awesome.
posted by Lemurrhea at 7:34 AM on August 19, 2009

When it comes to Canadian PSAs, it's all about Astar.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:55 AM on August 19, 2009 [2 favorites]

The CCA, ruining teenage sex for nearly 20 years.
posted by shmegegge at 7:57 AM on August 19, 2009

Don't forget Officer Ugg (which actually made me more curious about tasting chemicals).
posted by futureisunwritten at 8:04 AM on August 19, 2009

I love Metafilter. Should I eat this?
posted by Diagonalize at 9:23 AM on August 19, 2009

Actually, Diagonalize, "Should I eat it?" is one of the more common Ask.Mefi questions. Seems that a good percentage of the users on this site must have grown up with the ads.
posted by mccarty.tim at 1:26 PM on August 19, 2009

Astar "I can put my arm back on. You can't" and the DYPIIYM are two of the most vivid PSAs in my memory (although do you count those Heritage Moments as PSAs? "I smell... burnt toast" is still quoted at every Saturday morning breakfast at my house).
posted by variella at 6:11 PM on August 19, 2009

I'll take these over those scary workplace safety ads with the guy falling off a building and the woman pouring a pot of boiling water on herself.

Also, now I'm going to have Don't You Put it in Your Mouth running through my head for days.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:13 PM on August 19, 2009

Oh my god! House Hippos! I love the House Hippos. I want a House Hippo!

I'd forgotten about that PSA until I found it on the YouTube channel.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:15 PM on August 19, 2009

That's the problem with these posts. They show cute videos of house hippos and everyone's all like, WANT and then they get one and don't feed it the right kind of peanut butter sandwich crumbs, or worse, once they realize that house hippos sleep 16 hours a day, just get bored with their "cute" wild animal pet. Please, think twice before supporting Canadian black market house hippo dealers.
posted by memewit at 10:07 PM on August 19, 2009