An over-the-top 2014 Northern Irish anti-speeding PIF. Rated 15 for cinema release, though it also aired on television.
Description: The video starts with a classroom of kids getting ready for a field trip, one of the kids has a toy car, which is a blue Vauxhall Astra, a girl tells him that it's time to go (he puts the toy car in his pocket) we then cut to a man eating his breakfast and getting ready for work as he walks to the same car the boy has (the only difference with it is that it's an actual car) we then cut to the kids walking to some sort of park, one of the kids points to a river. A montage of the kids learning about nature is then shown (with a clip of the driver's face) we then see the kids doing ring-arounds (we cut to one of the kids laughing) the kids are now having a picnic. The boy moves his toy car, as the real car tries to drive around a corner, but since the driver is speeding, the car instead skids out of control, and crashes through a wall, with the kids on the other side. The car flips out of control and crushes all of the children in the process. We then see an empty classroom (the same one the kids were in at the start of the video) we slowly pan around the empty classroom as the text, "Shame on You", fades in at the center of the screen along with the DOE logo.
Trivia:
- This is the most infamous anti-speeding PIF ever. Bordering on the most infamous PIF in general. Also, there was a remake of this ad by the Department For Infrastructure. Click here to watch it: https://youtu.be/BI_Uk57FvEk
- This is a loose remake of another DOE ad simply named Shame.[1]
- This PIF was on Russell Howard's Good News. He did a whole comedy sketch on the PIF saying "That's not how you reduce class sizes!" and "That doesn't stop speeding it just freaks kids out about field trips!"
- This PIF was reviewed by The Nostalgia Critic in his 2019 commercials video. He started off believing it was just a car commercial, before the crash occurred (the kids being crushed was replaced by shots of cats due to YouTube's increasingly-draconian censorship policies), which utterly horrified him. He likened it to waving a bloody skeleton finger, and mentioned the fact it was banned before 9PM. He also declares that Ireland is the new Britain and that Britain is the new Canada.
- This PSA has become a meme, due to the over the top nature of the crash. Examples of memes can be seen here.
- A notable example of this being used as a meme occured on a video released on 1st January 2023 by notable YouTuber Sr Pelo, in a video entitled “Missed Christmas” as a part of his notable Mokey's Show series. It uses the car crash footage in this commercial as a running gag where Grooby hits another character to an oncoming blue car, leading to the footage of the car crash.
- Messyourself reacted to this PIF in his shock advertisements video and as soon as he saw the guy getting in the car, he knew what was gonna happen.
FX/SFX: Live action.
Cheesy Factor: The car crash is over the top to the point of almost defying logic, and the fact that the children just get bloodlessly squished doesn't help. Neither does the fact that the children just seem to accept their demises instantly. The announcer saying, "Shame on You" to the viewer at the end also doesn't work since many viewers haven't killed anyone while driving.
Music: Music is an acoustic arrangement of "Sweet Child o' Mine" by "Guns 'N' Roses", with a female vocalist. For the 2016 remake, it's an acoustic arrangement of "Mama, Can You See Me Now" by Sarah McGuinness
Sounds: We hear the talking of the students. At the end we hear a male announcer say, “Since 2000, speeding has killed a classroom of our children.” When the text, “Shame on you”, appears along with the DoE logo in order of appearance we hear him say, “Shame on you... You can never control the consequences if you speed.”.
Scare Factor: Depends on the variant.
- Original: Medium to Nightmare. The subject matter, the children being crushed, and the empty classroom can scare many people. However, some may see it as overly dramatic to the point of being unintentionally funny instead. Regardless, there's a reason why this was banned before 9PM.
- 2016 Remake: Low to High, Since we still see the children getting crushed, but the song in this remake is kind of relaxing...