Hopefully this rounds out our gloomy Friday of depressing PSAs. This spot is the centerpiece of a new RKCR/Y&R campaign for the U.K.’s Home Office that’s aimed at curbing abuse in teenage relationships. As with the human-trafficking spots we saw earlier, this ad features a scene of realistic violence and a powerless bystander—though this time it’s the abuser, who’s been able to step outside himself and see what he’s really doing to his girlfriend. The tagline is: “If you could see yourself, could you stop yourself?” Unfortunately, the answer here is no, as the kid is blocked by an invisible wall. Though maybe that’s a good thing. If he rushed up and attacked himself, we’d be in a Parkinson’s commercial.
—Posted by Tim Nudd