Companies Committed to Kids

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Concerned Children's Advertisers is the name of a Canadian non-profit organization based in Toronto, founded in 1990. It is best known for producing over 30 public service announcements covering topics such as drug abuse, self-esteem, and bullying. Each PSA ends with a big exclamation point, the logo of the organization. Usually, the commercials partner up with Health Canada.

Public Service Announcements

Substance Abuse Prevention

• Brain (1990): One of the very first commercials by Concerned Children's Advertisers, this commercial depicts a brain made up of a series of electrical wires. The narrator, whose voice resembles the one of Demi Moore, tells the viewers to think about what drugs can do to people's brains, dreams, and future. An unseen person holding a pair of pliers is cutting up the brain's wires, showing the effect of more drugs being consumed, before it eventually short-circuits. The commercial ends with a very important message: "Think about it - while you still can". Edited May 25, 1990.

• Crack (1990): This commercial, also made in 1990, has the shortest duration (about 15-20 seconds) of all the commercials made by CCA. It depicts a body bag on a stretcher. The same narrator from the Brain commercial tells viewers that in the past two years (1988 and 1989), over 5,000 people in Canada and the U.S. have died from using crack or cocaine. She ends the commercial saying, "Do yourself a favor...think about it". Today, there's no telling how many more people have died from crack or cocaine. Edited May 25, 1990

• Be True To You (1990): In this commercial, the narrator is a teenage boy wearing a red and black shirt, and he is meeting with three of his friends. He talks about the perceptions of teenage drug use, and his message is very clear... he wants children to make healthy decisions and do what is right for them. One of the memorable lines of this commercial is "Just because we are young doesn't mean we are stupid". Edited May 29, 1990

• Syringe (1990): This commercial takes place on the urban streets of Toronto at night. A rat is walking while the syringe is sucking up dirty water from the wet road. A man's voice says, "There are a lot of stories about that stuff that gets into street drugs." The syringe is tossed in the air and comes down smashing onto the concrete. Then the man's voice says, "So if you're afraid of what's being done to them, wait till you see what they'll do to you." Edited May 29, 1990.

• No Label On Drugs (1990): Need information.

• Elevator (1990): Need information.

• Interaction (1990): Need information.

• Cocaine (1990): Need information.

• Substance Abuse Testimonials (1990): This is a series of four commercials. The speakers of each commercial are Cynthia, Lisa, Doug, and Steve. Each of these people tell their side of the story of why they became drug addicts, and that the way they take drugs, they are hurting themselves and their families. Each of the four commercials were edited on May 29, 1990.

• Drug Rap (1990): In this commercial, a rap song about the choices of drugs is performed by a group of children and adults. They repeat the use of the line: "Drugs, drugs, drugs... Which are good, which are bad... Drugs, drugs, drugs... Ask your mom or ask your dad”. Edited May 30, 1990.

• Rehab (1992): This commercial is a story about a young boy recalling about his life of using drugs and his childhood days with his best friend. He is initially seen sitting inside his room in a rehab facility watching a clear view from outside. The music in the background seems to be an old song performed by The Hollies, He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother. He walks out of his room and spots his best friend visiting the facility before embracing each other. The commercial ends with a voice-over saying: "If you try to stop a friend from using drugs, you may not succeed, but at least you tried -- and that's what friends are for". Edited July 6, 1992.

• Hip Choice (1993): This commercial begins with a text message that says "Ever Thought About Taking Drugs?". It then shows two children standing (they are latex puppets, not real people) encountering a drug pusher wearing shades in an alleyway. The drug pusher sticks out his hands showing them the drugs and tells them that they have a choice of whether they will take them or not. A flash-sequence of disturbing images of drug-addicts appears when the pusher sticks out his hands. The children eventually ignore the offer and walk away from the drug pusher. The drug pusher then takes off his shades, revealing his hideous yellow eyes. There's another version of this commercial where the drug pusher doesn't take his shades off. Edited in April of 1993.

• Loser (1995): This commercial takes place in an old car resembling a 1969 Ford Mustang, with four teenagers smoking pot. The commercial focuses on two of the teenagers; one, implicably a "cool" kid, and the other, the "loser". The "cool" kids recalls past activities he onced enjoyed before his addiction, such as sports, while joking around with his friends, and chides the "loser" for being into different stuff. The "cool" kid then says he likes to party and that guys like the "loser" didn't know how to party. A message pops up, reading "Can you spot the losers?" The narrator then says "Truth is, there's a million things to do than sitting around and gettting stoned." Edited January 11, 1995.

• Transactions (Dead Hamster) (1995): A guitarist, presumably a street musician, is standing on a Toronto street interacting with the camera, offering the viewer several choices; you can feed your pet hamster when you're supposed to or he'll die, you can eat a ton of fries or look good in pants, and you can do drugs or you can do everything else. Edited April 3, 1995.

Role Models and Mentoring

• Mimic (1990): A child pretends to drink coffee and smoke cigarettes (using various items for play), while black and white images of said things are shown throughout. This shows how children can easily mimic adults, even in doing inappropriate actions such as smoking. Edited May 25, 1990.

Child Safety

• Storytime (1991): A woman reads a story about a family of raccoons. In the story, a baby raccoon finds various foods that are said to be unsafe for raccoons (This is to show that some things are unsafe for children.) The baby raccoon eventually finds an apple that is safe to eat. Edited February 14, 1991.

• Labyrinth (Finding a Needle) (1992): A group of children find a needle on the street and talk about how to deal with it. Edited September 3, 1992.

• Don't You Put It In Your Mouth (1992): This well-known commercial makes the use of song and puppetry, depicting two blue creatures singing about the dangers of putting strange objects into one's mouth. Edited October 30, 1992.

• The Trap (1993): Two mice come across a mouse trap with a piece of cheese on it. One mouse convinces the other to avoid it, and to ask for help if they don't know what something is. Edited July 16, 1993.

Child Abuse Prevention

• How Was Your Day (1995): Edited January 30, 1995.

Smart Choices

• Choose (1995): Edited December 14, 1995.

• Moe Funky (1996): Edited March 15, 1996.

Media Literacy

• Smart As You (1997): In this PSA aimed at children, an anthropomorphic television talks about programs children can see on TV, and that they are smarter than it (meaning that children make the choices about what they can do). Some footage from an old YTV programming block, ReBoot and It's Alive! are shown. Edited May 6, 1997.

• House Hippo (1999): Edited May 11, 1999.

Self-Esteem

• We Are Girls (1997): Need information. Edited May 22, 1997.

• Boutique (1998): Need information. Edited May 13, 1998.

• What's Your Thing (1999): A commercial showing various favourite things. It ends with the message "Nobody's good at everything; everybody's good at something." Edited April 22, 1999.

• Bundle Up (2000): Need information. Edited May 30, 2000.

• Knock On Wood (2000): Need information. Edited May 12, 2000

"Stay Fit 'Cause You Never Know"

• Ice Scream (2001): Three children sit on the grass. They see an ice cream truck pass by and the children try to chase after it. Edited May 8, 2001

• The Chase (2001): A boy runs away from three girls. He starts to feel tired, and the girls catch up with him and try to kiss him. Edited May 8, 2001

• Blown Away (2001): A boy gets a trading card (most likely a Pokemon card) from a store, but it gets blown away by the wind. Edited May 8, 2001

Bullying

• Walk Away (2002): A bully is shown apparently threatening someone, but as the camera pans out, it shows he is in fact not threatening someone, but that he is bullying thin air because no one is around for him to bully.

• Words Hurt (2003): A girl sees several other girls hanging out. The girls begin to tease the girl, saying things that literally form words and attack the girl. The girl then runs away, as one of the insults chases her. Edited October 14, 2003.

• Tell Someone (2005): As a boy wakes up in the morning, he has visions of another boy who bullies him at school. The bully teases the boy throughout the morning until the boy talks to his mother about the bully, and the vision disappears.

Healthy Active Living (Long Live Kids)

• Health Rock (2004): A song telling viewers about food and physical activity, working together for "body electricity". This commercial shows a blue character on a boy's T-shirt, doing (and morphing into) things the song talks about.

External links

• CCA-Kids.ca, the official website
  • A listing of their public service announcements (incomplete; includes videos)
  • A complete listing of their public service announcements (telecaster numbers only; includes French PSAs)
• Concerned Children's Advertisers site for kids