When Is a PSA Too Blunt?

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I am no lawyer, my opinion is it becomes too much when it inflicts mental distress. Although the point is to do so, you cant go showing 5 year olds snuff films to let them know killing people is bad. The difficult part of this is that the distress is a person-by-person thing. What doesn't phase someone may end up with years of therapy for someone else. I would also add that even a good disclaimer might not clear the way for a video of someone taking a hatchet to babies to show that abortion is wrong.

I had driver's ed in high school, and have needed to attend traffic school with regularity. Since I'm 61, I've been doing this for many years. A long time ago, the traffic films shown in the classes for people with tickets, had at least brief, gory and disturbing scenes, along with more conventional material. I presume that the theory was that at least a few really harsh and gory scenes (though actual events) could jolt the average person out of the common complacency that "really bad things can't happen to me" or "the talk about bad accidents is exaggerated" or "even if I'm in an accident, it won't be too bad and I'll recover completely in no time." This goes back a bit, but let's not forget, for example, how Jayne Mansfield died. Singer Johnny Horton's career (and Jessie Belvin's) was cut short by an auto crash. Sometimes, those who survive but are burdened by permanent and severe injuries, are not much better off. In the mid 80's I attended a traffic school in Van Nuys, California, and the film shown was quite "tame" - no harsh or gory scenes. At the conclusion of the film, I asked the instructor about this. He said that the really "harsh" or "gory" scenes had to be removed, because a lady who had become traumatized by seeing this kind of material sued the traffic school. On the other hand, would you rather risk being involved in a bad accident, instead of being made uncomfortable by seeing a harsh, if realistic, movie? I work in the Antelope Valley area of California, and terrible accidents occur in this area with unfortunate regularity, because as the population increases, residents fail to notice that they need to cease "breezing" through stop signs with out stopping - or slowing down at all - that the "old days" when there were only a few "desert rats" living in the outlying areas are over, and that the risk of a bad collision is simply too great, today.

AW DAMN got me with the title again.... modern sensationalism pleeeze! We saw drivers ed films like "Blood On The Highway", and Blood On The Highway2: "Having The Pot In Ya Will Make You Crash". So please. Go play Nintendo. ...oh right. (sorry, LK joke combined with obvious gore everywhere. tardsnore. And here you thought I'd just tell some stupid stoner joke!! HAHA! Jokes on you dash for brains!)