Sometimes, humor can be an effective way to address serious issues. It can especially be welcome among a sea of somber PSAs -- as long as the message doesn't miss the mark.
VH1's latest anti-bullying PSA offers a light-hearted rendition of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" mashed up with kids who look like they've been pulled straight out of a 1980s teen movie. Unsurprisingly called "Revenge of the Nerds," the ad highlights the things kids tell themselves to cope with being bullied -- namely, that they will have revenge one day.
[seealso slug=anti-bullying-film-gets-shorter/]
As well produced and humorous as the ad is, one can argue that it does little in the way of campaigning against bullying.
Dressing up kids as stereotypical school nerds and placing them in cartoonish bullying situations where they are left to contemplate revenge does little to raise awareness, or to help kids stop the bullying where it starts -- with bullies.