This is...odd - Moms with Guns AmberWatch Alert PSA

This is a very poor PSA. The director made some bad decisions and wasted a lot of money.

To give you guys a peek behind the hood, after you develop a PSA the challenge is to get airtime. Most broadcast and cable stations donate a few slots to PSAs as tax write-offs, and some are mandated to reserve X-amount of minutes per day for PSAs. Socialism at its worst, eh?

So you check with a station and find out that a few people got in line with their PSAs before you. Getting yours aired requires the services of a specialist. There are 5 or 6 guys in the country making a living at this. They seem to be retired TV execs with a lot of juice, and they know who to call, who to pitch your PSA to for a buy in. "Hey Jimbo, I got this really cute PSA for breast cancer awareness, these are nice folks, you wanna give them a slot?" etc.

You gotta pay that guy around $100-$125K. Otherwise, your PSA might run on the local news channel at 3 am Sunday if you're lucky. Once.

Given these kinds of odds, you shouldn't make a PSA such that people are scratching their heads wondering *** they are watching. The message should be clear and razor-sharp. No ambiguity at whatsoever. This PSA is a total fail because it tries too hard and overthinks its own premise. All the statistics it shows have no context.

How I would fix it: The images are striking and do have a bit of impact. Take one of them, maybe just the first mom shooting, and keep that. Have a narrator open on a black screen with white words, "Your child has been abducted. What do you do?" Cut to shot of mom with gun. Cut back to screen, "You don't need guns, you need Amber Alert Network." Cut to images showing how Amber Alert works and how you would use it.

Broadcast TV is bigtime and you don't want to mess around with art pieces. Somebody's ego got in the way of this one.

I was confused as well, so I checked out their website. By the way this is Amber Watch, not Amber Alert.
www.amberwatchfoundation.org

I don't think they were trying to be anti-gun (I could be wrong). From the information on their website it seems to me they are advocating teaching kids situational awareness.

I think their ad does a terrible job of getting their message across.

Our Mission
To provide educational programs and innovative technologies that proactively and preemptively protect children against abduction, predators and the dangers of the digital world.

Philosophy
When it comes to issues of personal safety, we believe that if the children and parents can see it, hear it and talk about it, they will learn it! For this reason, the AmberWatch Foundation "Be Safe!" Education Program was created to dynamically and proactively educate children and parents on the dangers that exist, and how they can protect themselves from child abductors and molesters. We are also on a constant lookout for the latest consumer-ready technologies in an effort to leverage the latest advancements in our quest to protect the nation’s children.

Implementation

The AmberWatch Foundation "Be Safe!" Education Program is a four-pronged approach to arming children against abductors and molesters. The AmberWatch Foundation is fulfilling its mission by

1. Presenting the "Be Safe!" Curriculum in schools and nationally recognized civic groups with the help of local law enforcement professionals
2. Distributing the "Be Safe!" Book to ignite conversation between parents and children
3. Disseminating print, radio and television public service announcements nationwide
4. Making available personal innovative safety devices aimed at helping children stay safe from predators and abductors

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The AmberWatch Foundation "Be Safe!" Education Program:

• Teaches children how to identify potential endangerment scenarios and protect themselves from abuse, abduction and exploitation
• Empowers children with the information, tools, and support they need to be safe, without frightening them
• Provides parents with a checklist of simple safety measures, deterrence strategies and solutions to minimize the chances of harm to their children
• Ignites conversation and interaction between parents and children regarding the dangers posed by abductors and molesters

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"The money I spent on advertising this year. You would think I could have the same results with half the money. Trouble is, which half?"



Angelina Jolie, dressed modestly of course, could have set on a stool and simply articulated the same message and would have ten times more credibilty

I think what happened was Becky Sue got tired of being on the refreshment/cleanup committee and volunteered for the publicity committee. Or as Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney would say when they needed money for something, "I know, we can put on a show!!!"
I'm leaning more towards "AMBER ALERT....WHEN YOU CAN'T BE BOTHERED TO PROTECT YOUR KIDS."

Or maybe, "TOO LATE.... GUNS WON'T HELP YOU FIND YOUR KID'S BODY"

Does anyone have that picture of that mother at a playground with her kids open carrying a Walther?

I am just pleased to see all the Pro2A comments on the video from reponsible parents who realize that they have an obligation to be willing to kill to protect their children.

I once read something by a "parent" who said, "I would rather watch my child die than have to live with the fact that I murdered someone!"



Where is CPS?

Oleg is better at this sort of thing, they should hire him instead.

I admit I was just dumbfounded after watching that mess. The following cleared it up for me...


FourteenMiles in post #16 wrote:

For those who are confused:

To respond to a threat with aggression just validates the conflict and aggression we try so hard to pretend does not exist.

If your willing to use violence to achieve your goals (defending your family) then you must face the fact that others are willing to use aggression to achieve their goals...it is much easier to pretend something like "I won't/can't utilize violence, therefore neither will others...

...it never solves anything. If there is a problem I will call a specialist like I do for all my other problems".

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I KNOW people who really think like this....heck, I'm related to a bunch of 'em!

I once read something by a "parent" who said, "I would rather watch my child die than have to live with the fact that I murdered someone!"

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If I'm not mistaken you are misquoting an excerpt from an excellent satirical "letter" from a teacher in MA who is a 2A activist. He has written other pieces of satire, as well. I'll see if I can find a link.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/e...es/2009/12/28/guns_teachers_and_self_defense/

If I'm not mistaken you are misquoting an excerpt from an excellent satirical "letter" from a teacher in MA who is a 2A activist. He has written other pieces of satire, as well. I'll see if I can find a link.

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I knew I'd read it somewhere, at any rate. Thanks!

Still, we all know that those types of people really are out there. It's a mad world.

Ambert alert! That's funny. Too bad an ambert alert can't save your children from CPS!

If you don't need guns, then what is it that child abductors do fear that we do need?

Child abductors work very fast. Only bullets can keep up with them.

Woody

Here is some food for thought, look at the following two statistics from the Center for Missing and Exploited Children's website. ( http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PageServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=2810#1 )
* 797,500 children (younger than 18) were reported missing in a one-year period of time studied resulting in an average of 2,185 children being reported missing each day;
* Since 1997, the AMBER Alert program has been credited with the safe recovery of 502 children. To date there is a network of 120 AMBER Plans across the country.
Now I don't know about the rest of you, but those two figures seem a little bit lopsided. About 2,000 children are reported missing each day; the AMBER Alert network has recovered about 502 since 1997, which breaks down to roughly 40 per year. I know these may be somewhat dated statistics, but when it comes to the life of child would you be willing to risk the odds of 40 out of 2,000? Why would a parent not do everything within their power to defend their children. I work in an elementary school, I think that I could much more easily deal with the fact that I took a life than to know (or even think) that I could have saved ANY child's life (not just my own) with a firearm and I did not do it. If I did nothing, I think the regret of doing nothing would eat at me much more than the fact that I ended the life of someone who was willing to harm a child. Just my thoughts.

Eye protection, ear protection . . . that casing bouncing off that woman's head was a hoot, but she could have easily gotten an eyeful of it . . . whoever thought up that last scene deserves a severe chewing out.

Muzzle control, ladies! Shoulder those weapons properly and use the sights!

Effective communication? NOT! What was that supposed to make me think? Something about abducted kids? Sorry . . . these folks need a new PR firm.

My daughter , mother of my 4 year old grand, carries. ALL her mommy type friends do too.
I have to figure the mall is the safest place on this planet when they're there.

But it is a little intimidating to see 6 women all carrying at once.

AFS

An Amber Alert is different than a missing/runaway child. In order for there to be an Amber Alert issued on a child, certain criteria must be met. If it does not meet the criteria, then an Amber Alert cannot be issued, and a missing person/runaway/kidnapping broadcast is made instead.


Amber Alert Criteria:

* There is reasonable belief by law enforcement that an abduction has occurred.
* The law enforcement agency believes that the child is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death.
* There is enough descriptive information about the victim and the abduction for law enforcement to issue an AMBER Alert to assist in the recovery of the child.
* The abduction is of a child aged 17 years or younger.
* The child’s name and other critical data elements, including the Child Abduction flag, have been entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) system.

The web site being advertised is trying to fill that niche, providing 'child predator' information alerts via email to your choice of zip codes.

At :27, that mom's AR spit out a loaded round!
HUH?????

Its a blank.

If they had chosen different moms with guns, would it have been a better PSA?

Just plain silly. Amber Alert is only activated after the child is abducted. If you would rather protect your child, as opposed to recovering your child, post-abduction and trauma, some kind of deterrent would seem to be indicated.

I have often wondered why, with the money the NRA and other groups have at their disposal, we never see a PSA, or a paid ad, in favor of civilians using guns?

Note to Shockwave: Broadcast licensees are required to allot a certain amount of airtime to public service programming, including public service announcements. Call it socialism if you wish but it comes from the determination that the airwaves are the property of the American people and broadcasters are licensees of a public trust. This dates from the days of Calvin Coolidge.