Be cool! Stay in school!

[meegbear]

[nxylas]

1. What the hell?

Is this a sick joke, or what?

[Nitram]

2. the dumbest commercial I ever saw

Would convince no one of anything.

[Auggie]

3. They had me up to the explosions ...

decent concept, horrible execution.

[RC]

4. WTH?

Stay in school and be shot or go to the beach and be blown up?

[postulater]

5. Who'd a thought? Terrorist sea turtles with land mines?

[blackspade]

6. Fail.

[Ed Suspicious]

7. Who are the ad wizards who came up with this one?

[RedstDem]

13. not a real ad

it's just a parody

[yesphan]

8. This ad wasn't made

in the US. The van has a right hand drive. Australia perhaps. Still a sick idea.

[SHRED]

9. The ad tells me...

Don't be a free spirit...or you will die.

[Shampoobra]

10. I can attest to this

I stayed in school, and I didn't explode

[Plucketeer]

11. Now......

if they'd had those kids run past that gate as they headed onto the beach..... And a caption said: By staying in school you gain valuable lessons for life - like reading skills.

But this is just dumb. It says as much about those conducting the tests more than anything.

[davidthegnome]

12. seriously messed up

If you slack off you get blown up? Really?

[paulkienitz]

14. this is even lamer than the classic "this is your brain on drugs" frying pan

and the only contribution that one made to society was to introduce "frying" as a new slang term for tripping on hallucinogens or psychedelics.

If you're going to steer people right with a public service message, your message has to be plausible!

(edit) Wait, it's a parody? Sure played it deadpan...

(edit 2) Okay, it's sort of half a parody, half serious.

Co-creator Henry Inglis told Uproxx that the spot he created with partner Aaron McCann was “about contradicting standard advertisements – it’s a bit of a f*ck you to advertising in general…It’s playing on those idealised commercials of people breaking free from their confines.” Set Yourself Free” also seems to be a self-conscious play on the historically anything-but-self-conscious ridiculousness of PSAs. Although “Set Yourself Free” is kind of funny, we have to wonder if the whole thing is just too ridiculous to get its message across — especially since, before they start blowing up, everyone seems to be having a really good time.