I remember when I was a young teenager watching the “Candies Foundation”public service announcements on television leaving me with an unsettling feeling in my stomach. The Candies Foundation is an organization that aims to educate both female and male teenagers on the harsh reality of teenage pregnancy. The public service announcements have featured both male and female celebrities such as, Hillary Duff, Jenny Mccarthy, Usher and Teddy Geiger. The slogan for the Candies foundation is “pause before you play”; implying teenagers should pause in the heat of the moment to put on a condom and really think about the consequences of failing to practice safe sex.
One particular Candies Foundation public service announcement that stuck with me until this day was aired in 2008, features Teddy Geiger, a young male singer song writer as the celebrity spokesperson. The ad begins with a couple of teenagers making out in the drivers seat. The dance music playing in the background is very similar to techno club music. In the heat of the moment the teenage girl disappears. The wheels of the boys car then break off, he jumps out alarmed as he watches his hot little convertible break apart and fold into a baby carriage before his eyes. The haunting sound of a baby's cry and a slow distorted lullaby plays in the background. Teddy Geiger then walks onto the scene, and says, “ not how you imagined your first set of wheels, huh? Pause before you play.” Teddy Geiger then walks onto the scene, and says, “ not how you imagined your first set of wheels, huh? Pause before you play".
This Candies Foundation PSA is shot entirely in black and white with sharp shadows, much like in a film noir movie. I feel that the goal of the PSA to evoke the feeling of a being in a nightmare is carried through nicely by using film noir style. The lack of color in this PSA represents the loss of childhood and a future.
I particularly like this Candies Foundation PSA for it features a teenage male, when a majority of the ads are centered around the consequences teenage females will face. The use of the phrase , "not how you pictured your first set of wheels", makes the targeted audience of the announcement to be geared to both genders for the majority teenagers look forward to driving the most.
Here is the link to the video. It may take you to the main video page but it is video #4
One reason this is a great text for the purpose of this assignment is that it is concise, so there is not a whole lot to describe, and you capture the most important elements. I might additionally make note of the setting for the video. What is the space depicted in this video?
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