PSA

Nobody's going to have a problem with a PSA to end domestic violence unless it encourages a whole other type of violence, but that's exactly what the ad below did. Created by the Chilean government to address violence against women, the slogan literally means "faggot is a man who beats a woman."

Maybe it doesn't sound so bad in Spanish, I thought? But the word "maricón" has become a widely used homophobic slur in Spanish-speaking countries. So much that the Chilean advocacy group Soy Hombre Soy Mujer fears it will add to the already pervasive homophobia in Chile, where statistics show a nearly 600 percent increase in violence toward the LGBT community in recent years.

Worst of all? The country's 33 rescued miners, the national heroes, are all strutting around in tees with the slogan, compliments of Chile's minister of the National Women's Service.

• Judd Apatow shoots star-studded PSA for American Jewish World Services — Vulture
• PETA will pay for Lindsay Lohan's rehab if she goes vegan — New York Daily News
• Michelle Obama talks with Ellen about bullying — Huffington Post
• Lara Stone's husband talks about being married to a supermodel — Fashionologie
• Find out who won Project Runway! — People
• Last-minute Halloween tips and tricks from PopSugar TV — PopSugar
• Group hacks into Sarah Palin, Glen Beck, and Justin Bieber's Facebook — Daily Beast
• Spain requires prostitutes to wear reflective neon vests — Nerve

From "This is your brain on drugs" PSAs to various obesity campaigns, public health messages take to our airwaves, radiowaves, and bus stops to grab us when we're paying attention. Messages of the past tried to draw the public's attention to epidemics like polio and other important public health issues with colorful and creative posters. I recently was browsing through some of these posters on the World Health Organization's website, and I loved the creativity and artistry that went into these posters of the past. They seem more like art than a staid government announcement, and some of them are pretty humorous as well. Check out some of my favorites in the gallery below.

Teen pregnancy rates are dropping, and Bristol Palin would like to see them fall further. The famous teen mom just cut a PSA for the Candie's Foundation, telling teens to "pause before you play."

Bristol wants teens to know that she has it easy. Being the daughter of a famous ex-politician and current media personality she has connections and glamorous opportunities. But if she was a regular old teen mom, she wouldn't be filming television commercials, but rather she'd be all by herself with a crying baby. I can't help but feel bad for her child. When he grows up will she have to explain why she's paraded him around as a mistake that other teens should avoid? And the message could be seen as classist — if you're rich, you can risk having sex, but if you're not well off, you're screwed. But I'll give Bristol the benefit of the doubt because I think she's just trying to be honest about her advantages.

Her ultimate point is solid, especially for young people who have trouble imagining the consequences of their reckless actions: pause before you play, or think before you have sex. While I know Bristol is pro-abstinence now, the slogan seems to leave room for contraception. Take the time to use a condom, or else you might end up all alone with your crying baby, or worse — as a poster mom for teen pregnancy.

Rihanna isn't just a soulful and talented singer who gets you moving during your workouts. She's also an advocate for saving children's lives. In 2006, Rihanna founded The Believe Foundation, because she feels the only way to secure our future is to take care of children, who will become the future leaders of our world. And now, Rhianna is raising awareness about leukemia — a disease that kills more children in the US than any other disease — with her new PSA.

The Believe Foundation has partnered with DKMS, an organization that connects bone marrow and stem cell donors with patients in need. Rihanna is urging people to go to refresheverything.com and vote for DKMS, so it can win a $250K grant. If DKMS wins the funding, it'll help the organization recruit 4,000 bone marrow donors, which means 4,000 children's lives saved from this devastating disease. You can vote every day in April. It's really easy to vote, and if the organization wins, you'll know you did your part to help.

We've seen a lot of them: public service announcements meant to make us feel bad about drinking ourselves stupid. Remember the one that showed a drunk dude fighting, urinating in public, and hooking up with random women with the message: would you do this sober? Or the gross Belgian PSA that featured people throwing up in unfortunate situations thanks to alcohol? Well new research suggests the message that we should feel ashamed about binge drinking doesn't get through to the viewer. Maybe we're too drunk to listen?

Not exactly. A study from Northwestern University and Indiana University found that these ads trigger existing feelings of guilt and shame and make excessive drinkers defensive. Drinkers tune out the PSA and in fact the shame-inducing message might lead to more binge drinking.

If someone tries to make you feel guilty about a bad habit — be it fast food, smoking, casual sex, or drinking — does it make you defensive or do you consider changing your behavior?

Maybe it's because this ad is from Italy and they have fewer woefully misinformed youth than America (though as a Catholic country, I doubt), but the only thing this ad does is make me want to look away.

I get it. The campaign is called WOM (word of mouth), so why not be all literal and put a condom in a mouth. Except wouldn't that literally make it very hard to talk?!

Check out the one-minute commercial — it's NSFW or sex — after the jump