Don't wear a shirt with your name on it?
May 21, 2010 10:16 PM Subscribe
Do you remember seeing a public service anouncement about not wearing shirts with your name on them in the early 90s?
I have often thought about the memory of this weird PSA, a girl telling a boy that he shouldn't wear a shirt with his name on it because it gives too much information to strangers. I remeber a playground being involved in the video. Can you link to this video if you remember it also? Perhaps I've just created a memory by reinforcement.
I have often thought about the memory of this weird PSA, a girl telling a boy that he shouldn't wear a shirt with his name on it because it gives too much information to strangers. I remeber a playground being involved in the video. Can you link to this video if you remember it also? Perhaps I've just created a memory by reinforcement.
I remember. I THINK it may have been specific to FOX. I THINK it was an after school one - not during Saturday mornings.
They were on a playground. Kid with name shirt was playing. I recall a wooden bridge in the playground structure, a blond boy with spikey hair... And then an adult (John Walsh?) walking onto the scene to say don't do it.
posted by k8t at 10:23 PM on May 21, 2010
They were on a playground. Kid with name shirt was playing. I recall a wooden bridge in the playground structure, a blond boy with spikey hair... And then an adult (John Walsh?) walking onto the scene to say don't do it.
posted by k8t at 10:23 PM on May 21, 2010
Best answer: I remember this! At first I thought it was a GI JOE PSA but k8t jogged my memory that it was a fox thing.
Here is a video of it on youtube - Totally Kids Detective
posted by zephyr_words at 10:35 PM on May 21, 2010 [4 favorites]
Here is a video of it on youtube - Totally Kids Detective
posted by zephyr_words at 10:35 PM on May 21, 2010 [4 favorites]
I was talking about this yesterday!
Yeah, the video depicted a bully as the threat, but I always assumed the real reason for that PSA was child molesters and they just didn't want to say it.
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:01 PM on May 21, 2010
Yeah, the video depicted a bully as the threat, but I always assumed the real reason for that PSA was child molesters and they just didn't want to say it.
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:01 PM on May 21, 2010
I don't remember the PSA, but I remember the fear. Although I remember it was from the early 80's. I think that it was our girl scout troop leader who told us that we shouldn't have our name on our shirts because someone would remember our names and then it would be easier for predators to convince us that they were friends of our parents or something. This was also the time where there was a big emphasis on safe words and that we should have a safe word for our parents that way if they couldn't pick us up from school and they had to send someone else to pick us up they could tell us the safe word and we would know they really were sent by our parents.
The only reason I remember this is because I was told about the names on shirts thing around the time that I started t-ball. They of course wanted to put our names on the back of our shirts. I threw a huge fit, I was going to get kidnapped, I was going to get taken, our parents didn't love us! It was quite dramatic at the time, but I still ended up wearing a shirt with my name on it.
I didn't get kidnapped, yet.
posted by aetg at 7:18 AM on May 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
The only reason I remember this is because I was told about the names on shirts thing around the time that I started t-ball. They of course wanted to put our names on the back of our shirts. I threw a huge fit, I was going to get kidnapped, I was going to get taken, our parents didn't love us! It was quite dramatic at the time, but I still ended up wearing a shirt with my name on it.
I didn't get kidnapped, yet.
posted by aetg at 7:18 AM on May 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
Was the safe word "helicopter"? I totally remember a video in elementary school featuring that.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 9:25 AM on May 22, 2010
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 9:25 AM on May 22, 2010
Whoa, I remember that! Watching the video, that's the kid from Step by Step (shut up) -- confirmed on his wikipedia page which says:
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 11:13 AM on May 22, 2010
One of Castile's earliest television appearances was in a long-circulated segment of Totally For Kids, kid safety interstitials that aired on the Fox network's Saturday morning lineup in the early 1990s. The segment had him playing a young boy who was being followed by a group of kids (the main characters of the "safety patrol") because he had his named printed on his shirt, as a way to address the dangers of name display for strangers (or possible abductors) to see. The Totally For Kids segments also featured John Walsh.In case that helps.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 11:13 AM on May 22, 2010
Oh my God. I have totally described this PSA to people before, and they did not believe it existed. Thank you!
posted by soupy at 10:37 PM on May 22, 2010
posted by soupy at 10:37 PM on May 22, 2010
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Regarding stranger danger, I generally agree with Penn & Teller's "Bullshit" that child abduction by strangers is far too rare to be appropriately addressed in this way. There is more harm done by ingraining this fear in children then there is harm done by child abductions by strangers.
posted by Disinter at 10:23 PM on May 21, 2010 [3 favorites]