Certainly makes me want to go set a polar bear on fire. Seriously, who is the target audience for this?

re: #1 amphibian

[…]

The film’s makers said that they viewed No Pressure as “a funny and satirical tongue-in-cheek little film in the over-the-top style of Monty Python or South Park”. Before its release, it was described as “attention-grabbing” and “pretty edgy.”

The film was withdrawn from public circulation by 10:10 on the same day it was released, as a reaction to immediate intense negative publicity; it received hundreds of negative comments on the original YouTube upload before being pulled by the creators, and charities that had backed the film stated they were “absolutely appalled” upon seeing it.

[…]

en.wikipedia.org

re: #2 CuriousLurker

When Shiplord Kirrel posted this video in a comment thread a few days ago, this was my response:

Interesting concept, but I think it would have been far more effective if it showed the “bad guys” causing their own deaths, e.g. shooting themselves in the head after announcing they were doing nothing about the problem, or spontaneously combusting, or melting into a puddle Wicked-Witch-of-the-West style. Something semi-humorous rather than shock-value-gross.

Had they done this, I’m sure the film would have still garnered complaints, but any “outrage” would have looked like silly overreaction instead of a legitimate complaint.

re: #3 publicityStunted

I saw the video for the first time yesterday when a co-worker sent it to me. I’ll admit I found the gore disconcerting (especially with the kids), but I can’t say I was anything close to outraged over it. If I still had children at home, I’d probably feel differently.

I agree that they should’ve done it differently. As a matter of fact, I’m surprised that none of the creators thought people might be upset over it. I think—no, I know—that sometimes creative people get carried away with concepts and forget to seek feedback from “regular” people. Disappointment on all sides usually follows when that happens.

Commercials/PSA’s are just like graphic design in that they’re about the effective visual communication to a specific target audience. I think either the creators didn’t properly understand the target audience, or they neglected periodically to step outside their creative bubble for feedback.

The videos are certainly memorable, but the gruesomeness overshadowed the message, resulting in a failure to effectively communicate the intended message—i.e. people definitely got the message, but the reaction was so negative that continuing to run them for general audiences would have hurt the cause far more than it helped.