PSA Mania!

In NZ, there are so so so many public service announcements on television.  I would venture a guess that nearly half of the commercials in between shows are PSAs.  There are PSAs for everything and anything here, and I have a hard time comprehending the need for so many.  A list of just some of the PSAs I can remember off the top of my head:

• Skin cancer-the importance of sun screening kids now; slogan-NEVER let your child get sunburnt
• Cervical cancer-get checked now and prevent this from happening as it shows an abandoned four-year-old remembering his mom
  
• Breast feeding-lots of commercials about the impact on baby's health and why mothers should start
• Driving too fast-a father and son driving fast, son inherits father's driving patterns and crashes
• Drunk driving (called drink-driving)-after a night at the bar, friends climb into car that crashes (one of many many drinking safety ones)
  
• Drinking (in general)-there are so many graphic and almost unnecessary scare-tactic drinking commercials, one showing a man who previously is spinning a child around, and after drinking does it again and throws a child into a wall
• Swimming-likening a person who has never swam before to a baby in the water
  
• Boating-ensuring boaters have communication gear in case of emergency
  
• Domestic violence-police are called out to a home once every 7 minutes for a case of domestic violence...IT'S NOT OKAY
  
• Fire safety-for adults (no candles in campers, changing smoke detector batteries, etc.) and kids (cartoons about exiting the house safely and telling adults about matches)
  
• National/natural disasters-how to prepare your home and family should some sort of disaster strike
• Mental health-how to cope and/or help someone you know or yourself with mental health issues
• Smoking-it's bad for you and how to stop with additional advertisements for a quit line
  

Educating the public in these often self-explanatory commercials is all too common here.  The car accident and drinking ones have gotten so disturbing that Bret or I jump off the couch to turn them off (no remote) as soon as they come on (and we have them pretty much memorized.  Are there that many PSAs in the states?  Maybe there are, and I've just been too busy fast-forwarding through all the commercials (ah, I miss that luxury).