History Main / ScareEmStraight

* EggSitting is a form of this. Advanced technology reveals its motivations; instead of a sack of flour, nowadays kids get a realistic electronic baby doll who cries at more or less random intervals (even in the middle of the night), demanding to be "fed", "changed", or "rocked". And there's a non-zero chance you get a "crack baby", which cries far more frequently (and in a more desperate and high-pitched tone) than the other dolls.

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

* Mr. Krabs did this twice on ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''. First concerning the hooks, then about the main drain. Squidward also did this about the Slasher.

** [=SpongeBob=] himself does it when he is made [[YellowSashOfPower hall monitor]]. Seeing a couple's window open, he decides to scare them into leaving it closed by dressing in a balaclava, jumping through it, and shouting "I'm the Open Window Maniac!", sending them running out the door. Soon, the police are looking for the Maniac... as is [=SpongeBob=], not knowing that he's [[HiredToHuntYourself actually looking for himself]].

* Comedian {{Creator/ShayneSmith}} describes how this went horribly right at a summer camp he was asked to do it for, bringing along his very intense friend Anton. Due to a miscommunication, [[spoiler:Shayne thought they were dealing with gangster kids instead of moderately misbehaved Mormons]]. HilarityEnsues.

-->'''Jack Chick:''' But God, I've spent my whole life kissing your ass!\\

* The concept is invoked in a ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}''/''ComicBook/AvengersAcademy'' crossover called "Scared Straight", in which the Academy students are brought to the Raft to see why they shouldn't become super-criminals. Using [[ManipulativeBitch Moonstone]] and [[PsychoForHire the Ghost]] wasn't quite the right tactic, especially as [[spoiler:some of the students tried to kill ComicBook/NormanOsborn shortly thereafter]].

** Needless to say, it was effective. The kids renounce their materialism.
* In ''ComicBook/WhatsSoFunnyAboutTruthJusticeAndTheAmericanWay'', ComicBook/{{Superman}} does this to the ''entire world'' when a group of {{Nineties Anti Hero}}es called The Elite turn the public against his ThouShaltNotKill philosophy. He then proceeds to demonstrate exactly ''why'' the world should BewareTheSuperman by [[CurbStompBattle seemingly killing off the Elite one by one]] only to reveal them to be still alive afterwards, to demonstrate how dangerous their line of thinking is and how much worse things would be if he followed it.

** With the slow and steady rise of actual road rage incidents involving weaponry, this is starting to quality for TruthInTelevision: [[http://www.legermarketing.com/documents/spclm/010903eng.pdf 4% of Canadians were victims of road rage violence in 2001.]]

* ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'': When Earl ends up in prison, he directs one of these. HilarityEnsues.

* Parodied in an episode of ''Series/{{MADtv}}'' with a commercial for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr5k0t3aoKs "Scared Straight Anywhere"]].

* The music video for Weird Al's "Don't Download This Song" implies that if you illegally download music, you'll be electrocuted in the chair.

* ''Webcomic/UnwindersTallComics'' makes the case that [[http://tallcomics.com/comic?sort=30 marijuana advocates themselves]] are the best way to scare youngsters away from using drugs.

* WebVideo/{{Benzaie}} got hired to make a PSA about seat belts. He made a Flipnote animation of [[Franchise/{{Kirby}} Yarn Kirby]] turning into a car and crashing into a rock, causing his face to fly off and splatter against a boulder. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5NBjvsbREs Watch it here.]]

** A real-life ScareEmStraight poster also makes an appearance, where somebody drinking alcohol is depicted as descending into a homeless life of crime which inevitably ends with the drunk being DrivenToSuicide.

* The massive, multi-series crossover special ''WesternAnimation/CartoonAllStarsToTheRescue'' featured just about every major Saturday morning cartoon character of the early '90's inflicting massive amounts of psychological torture on a teenage addict to try and scare him off of marijuana and beer (mostly marijuana, since his dad was the only one who noticed the missing beer). Made even better when you consider that the real purpose of this special wasn't revealed until it aired! Instead, all the ads displayed it as a fun adventure starring all the big cartoon stars of the day. Cue deer-in-headlights look on parents' faces when their seven-year old-son turned to them and asked what marijuana was. Keep in mind that this aired in 1990, when marijuana was still illegal. Good luck showing it to today's stoners.
** An article about the special in the now defunct X-Entertainment website even argues that if anything, this attempt [[SpaceWhaleAesop could backfire spectacularly]]. Because if kids are shown that they'll get to meet their cartoon heroes if they try to take drugs, guess what's going to happen next.

** "Proper Condom Use" had Ms. Choksondik showing the 4th-grade girls all the [=STDs=] they could contract if they had sex without the boy wearing a condom (never mind the fact that these girls are 9-10 years old), complete with graphic pictures. However, she fails to mention that the danger only occurs if they are sexually active. HilarityEnsues.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'' go to prison on a school-sponsored 'Scared Straight' program -- you can guess how they absorb the message. The episode ends with B&B promising to return to the joint so they and their new jailbird friends can "party again". The worst part is that the principal didn't even pick any troublemakers from the permanent records that might ''need'' scaring, with the exception of Beavis and Butthead, he just picked students out of the yearbook and chose the ones he thought looked like punks.
** The dumb duo also take in a 50's drivers-ed video, starring two meatheads with a suspicious resemblance to our protagonists. They then proceed to replicate the accident during their own driving test.
* ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'': In "Bleeped", Bill ends up going "full-dad" and outright insists the children not cuss anymore, complete with BlankWhiteEyes and an echoing voice. Said procedure is enough to frighten everyone (including Remy) into silence...except for Cricket, who only pretended to be scared so he can drop a B-bomb at the end of the choir concert.
* In the 90s, British primary school children were treated to a rather well-done fire safety animated short called 'Frances the Firefly'. The aforementioned Frances lives in an insect village, but she can't fly very well nor glow as brightly as the other fireflies. So, a bratty cockroach persuades her to use a large match instead, which results in her burning off her wings, dropping the match in pain, and starting a huge fire that injures many insects and burns most of the village down. She is forgiven, however, and gets the job of telling her story to the younger insects. The short was praised for scaring children enough to not want to play with matches while still being gentle, family-friendly viewing.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** A dentist scares Ralph into brushing his teeth by showing him "The Big Book of [[BritishTeeth British Smiles]]." It's incredibly xenophobic, but Ralph understandably cries and says "that's enough".
** In "Duffless", Homer is shown one of the gruesome driver's ed videos after receiving a DUI. He's laughing his butt off. "It's funny 'cause I don't know him!" Really, it's not like it's totally Homer's fault. The makers of the film apparently thought its subject matter was ''too'' scary, so they softened it with "zany" circus music and the narrator (who happens to be Troy [=McClure=]) making some {{pun}}s. ("Here's an appealing fellow. In fact, they're 'a-peeling' him off the sidewalk!")
--->'''Troy [=McClure=]:''' Hi! I'm actor Troy [=McClure=], you may remember me from such public service movies as ''Alice Through The Windshield Glass'' and ''The Decapitation of Larry Leadfoot.''
** In the episode where Marge gets issues with road rage, part of her community service is watching a film documenting the dangers of angry drivers, wth such gems as a judge, wearing robes and all, sentencing passing cars to "kiss his ass", and an astronaut going berserk in the middle of the road with a golf club.
** Subverted at the end of "The [[=PTA=]] Disbands"; Springfield Elementary begins renting its unused cloak rooms to the prison to deal with budget problems. Skinner hopes the presence of convicted felons would scare the more troublesome students (Bart) straight. The episode ends with this exchange:
-->'''Snake:''' Bust me out of here, I'll totally make it worth your while.\\
'''Bart:''' I'm listening.
* The "Ghost Car" film shown to WesternAnimation/KimPossible's Driver's Ed class is presumably rather gory (even in [[{{Retraux}} scratchy black and white]]), judging from the [[ReactionShot reactions]] we see.
* Parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers''. The boys visit a prison "Scare 'em Straight" program... a supervillain program, even. The Monarch, as per usual, shows quite a bit of genuine concern over the boys being there, while other supervillains lament that they've made the wrong choices in life that led to them having horrible facial deformities and so on.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'':
** "...Or Die Trying" has a parody of [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil anti-piracy PSAs]], which compares "stealing movies" to robbing and murdering an old lady. This succeeds at scaring Jazmine into fearing movie piracy.
** In "A Date with the Booty Warrior", Huey and Riley are sent to a "Scare 'em Straight" type of program, where they go to a prison and see how bad it is. But the whole thing goes ''very'' awry, when they and the rest of their group are taken hostage during a PrisonRiot. However, in the ending, [[{{Delinquent}} Riley]] claims to be completely unscared and unimpressed by his experience.
* Mr. Krabs did this twice on ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''. First concerning the hooks, then about the main drain. Squidward also did this about the Slasher.
** The mash bringing... the slash singing... the rash slinging... the flash ringing... the ash pinging... thethethe HASH SLINGING SLASHER!!!!!
** [=SpongeBob=] himself does it when he is made [[YellowSashOfPower hall monitor]]. Seeing a couple's window open, he decides to scare them into leaving it closed by dressing in a balaclava, jumping through it, and shouting "I'm the Open Window Maniac!", sending them running out the door. Soon, the police are looking for the Maniac... as is [=SpongeBob=], not knowing that he's [[HiredToHuntYourself actually looking for himself]].
* Played for laughs in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' where it shows a younger Hayley refusing to eat her vegetables until Stan tells her she needs to eat them in order to get strong and fend off sexual predator Bill Clinton. Stan then knocks under the table and says "Oh! I think he's here right now!", which causes Hayley to quickly finish her food out of fear.
** Parodied in "Minstrel Krampus", when Stan explains to his father, Jack, that he released [[Main/TheKrampus Krampus]] from his [[SealedEvilInACan prison]] so that he would "scare Steve straight", leading Jack to [[ComicallyMissingThePoint scream]] "''SEXUAL ORIENTATION IS NOT A CHOICE!!!!!''"
* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Prick Up Your Ears", the school brings in a PSA group advocating for abstinence in the most hyperbolic terms possible. Such claims include "Sex turns straight people gay and gays into Mexicans", "If you have sex, your penis will fall off, and land in another dimension, populated entirely by dogs, who will eat it", and "If you have sex, you're automatically in Al-Qaeda".
** Another episode has Brian required to retake the DMV test to renew his license, and Stewie makes a "driving safety" video in the style of the old scare-em-straight gore fests, except with himself poorly edited into playing all the roles. If that wasn't bad enough, most of the video is just the characters talking about getting oral sex while driving.
* Parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Duckman}}'', as Duckman's father had once attempted to scare him straight after he stole some candy from the store, by having the chief of police lock him up for an hour, similarly to the real-life experience of Alfred Hitchcock. Unfortunately, 15 minutes after putting young Duckman in a cell, the chief tipped over his chair and hit his head on a radiator, putting him in a coma for 18 months. No one else knew why he was in there, and his father never came back for him, so Duckman ended up staying in prison until the chief woke up and let him out. All this resulted in was giving Duckman a crippling fear of enclosed spaces.
* The ''WesternAnimation/DefendersOfTheEarth'' episode "100 Proof Highway" contains a scene where Mandrake catches Kshin taking liquor from his drinks cabinet. Realising Kshin (who only started drinking to copy his peers) [[ChildrenAreInnocent doesn't understand the dangers of alcohol]], Mandrake shows the boy a vision of what could happen to him if he continues to drink; in the vision, Kshin (aged up to the same age as Rick, LJ, and Jedda) is killed in a drunk driving accident. Afterwards, Mandrake tells Kshin that:
-->One little drink leads to another. And the others may lead to that, Kshin.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': Parodied in Episode 96, when Stumpy and Quack Quack get addicted to eating carrots which have the same effect as tobacco. Kaeloo decides to pull a scare 'em straight by lying to them that they'll turn into rabbits if they keep eating them. She also points out that Stumpy must have already begun turning into one because he has buckteeth, and ignoring the fact that Stumpy is a squirrel and has always had buckteeth, the two boys decide to give up carrots for good. [[HereWeGoAgain And then they get addicted to something else.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E20TheWashouts "The Washouts,"]] Spitfire gives a speech to Scootaloo warning her about the dangers of going through with joining the Washouts with Lightning Dust, saying that Scootaloo will end up "in a full body wing and hoof cast, drinking through a straw" multiple times. Spitfire does this in a DrillSergeantNasty tone with [[MilkingTheGiantCow exaggerated body movements]] and [[NoIndoorVoice at the top of her lungs]] to get the point across. At first, the speech doesn't work, as Scootaloo still joins the Washouts, but when she sees the ridiculously dangerous stunt she's supposed to perform, she admits she's thinking about "drinking through a straw" and tries to back out.
-->'''Spitfire:''' "Practice?!" Well, la-dee-doodle-da! Let me give you a different scenario. You're probably saying to yourself "I'm young, I'm strong, I'm gonna go out there and stunt some tricks with my new friend Lightning Dust." Well, I'm here to tell you that if you play that game, you're gonna find out it's pretty hard to "stunt tricks" in a '''''FULL BODY WING AND HOOF CAST, DRINKING THROUGH A STRAW!'''''
* ''WesternAnimation/MotorMania'': One of the early cartoons to star Goofy during his "everyman" phase, it shows the dangers of road rage and other hazards on the road, and is often shown in driver's ed classes in real life.
%%* Several episodes of Arthur have done this.
* In the ''Franchise/CareBears'' episode "A Rhyme In Time", Gram reads Hugs and Tugs a story about safety after they get into danger. The book scares them, as they imagine things like smoke being full of monstrous creatures, hot liquids as lava, a bathtub as an ocean, and being chased by bottles of poison. Fortunately, Gram calms them down, and the twins are happily talking before bed.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' has the parents and Principal Brown attempt this to discourage kids from skipping school by staging a fake hijacking with the schoolbus. [[spoiler:It goes wrong when it turns into a REAL hijacking.]]

** One campaign against drunk driving that's been going on in American schools since at least UsefulNotes/TheNineties does this by randomly choosing a few members of the student body and having them "killed" by a drunk driver. On the milder end, someone dressed as TheGrimReaper taps you on the shoulder and you're not allowed to interact with anyone for the rest of the day (including teachers). On the scarier end, you don't go to class that day -- instead, they straight up pretend you were killed by a drunk driver and watch your friends' distraught reactions. In a couple of cases they even held an impromptu vigil and got the "victims"' ''parents'' to speak before revealing that it was a hoax. British schools use a variant of this to teach kids to be TooSmartForStrangers, turning the kids into kidnapping victims.

* Religions often do this, scaring adults and non-adults alike into compliance by saying they'll go to {{Hell}} if they're evil. One particularly bizarre (and [[RippedFromTheHeadlines journalist-attracting]]) variant in the U.S. is the "Hell House", which appears to be a typical Halloween-type HauntedHouse but instead presents the horrors as a FireAndBrimstoneHell and the consequences of not leading a particular brand of conservative Christian lifestyle. One fictional depiction occurs [[https://www.somethingpositive.net/sp10042006.shtml in this series of]] ''WebComic/SomethingPositive'' strips, during which [[https://www.somethingpositive.net/sp10192006.shtml the author learned that some also have]] "9/11 rooms":

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]

* In ''Manga/DeathNote'', Light planned on using the power of the notebook to "cleanse" the world of evil by killing criminals worldwide and scare people to behave under the threat of being killed themselves.

* In ''Manga/DeathNote'', Light planned on using the power of the notebook to "cleanse" the world of evil by killing criminals worldwide and scare people to behave under the threat of being killed themselves.
* Yuzuru from ''Manga/ASilentVoice'' takes photos of dead creatures and hangs them on the wall to discourage her sister Shoko from killing herself. [[spoiler:After Shoko's AttemptedSuicide, she takes them all down.]]

* In ''ComicBook/WhatsSoFunnyAboutTruthJusticeAndTheAmericanWay'', ComicBook/{{Superman}} does this to the ''entire world'' when a group of {{Nineties Anti Hero}}es called The Elite turn the public against his ThouShaltNotKill philosophy. He then proceeds to demonstrate exactly ''why'' the world should BewareTheSuperman by [[CurbStompBattle seemingly killing off the Elite one by one]] only to reveal them to be still alive afterwards, to demonstrate how dangerous their line of thinking is and how much worse things would be if he followed it.

* FanFic/KyonBigDamnHero: Tanaka Taro in chapter 54 begins his short time in the story reflecting to himself that he is going to become an important and powerful person in the crime syndicate by taking out Kyon. After the attempt, he reflects that after he recovers (from the beatdown Kyon just gave him), he will still become an important and powerful person by working at the docks, getting the Japanese equivalent of a GED, and working his way up to management.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9285638/1/Leftovers Leftovers]]'', Naruto and Kurenai make Ino think she's been captured by slavers to motivate her to become a real kunoichi rather than a fangirl with a headband. The lesson is driven even further when Ino learns that a former classmate was captured a month ago (far too late for her to be saved even if she's found) and Ino's mother tells her about when she was captured by slavers.
* ''FanFic/ThisBites'': In the face of [[spoiler: Sakazuki's lava powers]] and certain death, the Marine T-Bone renounced the betrayal of his flotilla, condemned them all as evil, and swore to be a steadfast, uncrooked pursuer of justice and duty of the World Government. But his men's death and his change in morality slowly ached at him until, in the face of Cross's steadfastness to his ideals, he could not refute his actions any longer.

* ''WesternAnimation/Animaniacs2020'': In "[[Recap/Animaniacs2020Episode16 The Hamburg Tickler]]", Dr Scratchansniff attempts to use this tactic on the Warners.
* ''WesternAnimation/FatAlbertAndTheCosbyKids'': The episode "Busted" is one of the best animated Scare 'Em Straight episodes. Series host Bill Cosby warns at the beginning of the episode that some graphic language is used, and indeed it is: When Albert and his buddies are given the prison tour by a police officer, they hear lots of hooting and lurid comments from the inmates. Even without the use of strong profanity, the remarks that various inmates make about wanting the kids to join them in their cell ([[PrisonRape so they can have sex with them]]) – not to mention the strong commentary from two of the other inmates about not having any rights or freedoms, and the strong probability of lost opportunities once released – is enough to convince the gang to stay out of trouble and the hell away from people like Rudy's buddy, who got them in trouble in the first place.

* The cartoon ''Play Safe'' delves ''deep'' into the well of horror to convey a somewhat dubious message about train safety. Complete with jerky rotoscoping, DerangedAnimation, a horrifying soundtrack, and a SpaceWhaleAesop to boot (playing in train yards results in... hijacking a sentient streamliner and crashing it into another train?). You too can view the madness [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkqdMPudaSA here]].
* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'' go to prison on a school-sponsored 'Scared Straight' program — you can guess how they absorb the message. The episode ends with B&B promising to return to the joint so they and their new jailbird friends can "party again". The worst part is that the principal didn't even pick any troublemakers from the permanent records that might ''need'' scaring, with the exception of Beavis and Butthead, he just picked students out of the yearbook and chose the ones he thought looked like punks.
** The dumb duo also take in a 50's drivers-ed video, starring two meatheads with a suspicious resemblance to our protagonists. They then proceed to replicate the accident during their own driving test.
* ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'': In "Bleeped", Bill ends up going "full-dad" and outright insists the children not cuss anymore, complete with BlankWhiteEyes and an echoing voice. Said procedure is enough to frighten everyone (including Remy) into silence...except for Cricket, who only pretended to be scared so he can drop a B-bomb at the end of the choir concert.
* The "Deathrace" episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'' has Toki and Skwisgaar forced to go to driving school after a DWI arrest. The school forces them to watch a film about drunk driving, with accident scenes so graphic that they become afraid to drive a car, and fail the test as a result.
* In the 90s, British primary school children were treated to a rather well-done fire safety animated short called 'Frances the Firefly'. The aforementioned Frances lives in an insect village, but she can't fly very well nor glow as brightly as the other fireflies. So, a bratty cockroach persuades her to use a large match instead, which results in her burning off her wings, dropping the match in pain, and starting a huge fire that injures many insects and burns most of the village down. She is forgiven, however, and gets the job of telling her story to the younger insects. The short was praised for scaring children enough to not want to play with matches while still being gentle, family-friendly viewing.

*** This could also be why Chuckie has buck teeth...

*** Consider this: the first VA of Lou, Creator/DavidDoyle, passed away of a heart attack...

* An entire [[DiscreditedTrope discredited]] subtrope of this are the tales, often presented through allegory, of young women who place unwise trust in male strangers, slip into their abodes, and are never seen alive again. Famous fables of this type include "Little Red Riding Hood" (before the Brothers Grimm version introduced a hunter to save the day) and "The Spider and the Fly."

This is the modern equivalent of the (hopefully) ForgottenTrope of children's literature intended to scare kids into good behaviour by depicting a FamilyUnfriendlyDeath and/or the torments of FireAndBrimstoneHell inflicted on "boys and girls like you". This was a common theme in older {{fairy tale}}s like Literature/LittleRedRidingHood, but modern tellings have become {{Disneyfi|cation}}ed over time by removing the especially nasty bits and adding happy endings. In the present day, fringe Christian sects keep this tradition alive with "hell houses" that usually operate around Halloween and serve as TheMoralSubstitute for your garden-variety secular haunted house. These are disavowed by the mainstream; however, a hell house graced the cover of ''Newsweek'' as recently as 2006.[[note]]("Visions of Hell", by Matthew Philips and Lisa Miller, ''Newsweek'', November 6, 2006, 52; also "Signaling Through the Flames: Hell House Performance and Structures of Religious Feeling" by Ann Pellegrini [[http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/american_quarterly/v059/59.3pellegrini.html]])[[/note]]

It could be said that the ''large number'' of examples on this page are a testimony to there being too much [=PSA=] time available to a vast number of specialised interest groups, each one convinced that ''their'' anvil needs to be dropped, and unaware that people become desensitized at a young age by the sheer ''volume'' of Scare 'Em Straight messages.

This is, arguably, also one of the intentions of older forms of punishment, especially where the criminal (or [[DeadGuyOnDisplay his/her tortured-to-death corpse]]) is [[MakeAnExampleOfThem displayed in public]] as a warning to others.[[note]]See also: The "Real Life" examples in the CruelAndUnusualDeath article. Just make sure [[NightmareFuel you don't plan to sleep that night.]][[/note]]

* Vaccination is a very [[{{Pun}} pricky theme]]. A study tested whether presenting scientific and empirical results or invoking this trope by telling some gruesome real cases could convert an anti-vaxxer. To the surprise of the researchers, both were equal in being completely ineffective. After the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic provided a lot of data on the subject, it's pretty much borne itself out; many observers accused public health authorities (in some cases even rightly, but hardly all) of exaggerating the effects of the disease as a means of convincing people to take precautions, leading to avoidable psychological, economic, and indeed physical harm.
* Drunk driving can lead to catastrophic accidents for the driver, their passengers and anybody they hit. Hence the decades of [=PSAs=] reminding people not to drink and drive. Many of these ads are aimed at adults as much as they are at children, and can run late in the evening. One thing that might make them more effective than other [=PSAs=] is that they don't necessarily discourage people from drinking socially, but just plan for becoming too tanked to get behind the wheel.

* On the ''Series/BarneyMiller'' episode a 9-year-old played by Creator/ToddBridges tries to hold up Barney's wife Liz. Harris takes it upon himself to divert the kid from a life of crime. He does this by getting a pimp they have in custody to play up his own loser qualities, telling tales of a [[HangingJudge Judge Meanie]] who throws the book at young offenders, and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers bragging about his credit score]].

* In criminology and studies of delinquent rehabilitation, Scared Straight programs are infamous for being, well, bullshit. Almost no credible scientific evidence has ever backed up that these programs reduce rates of delinquent recidivism; in fact, many studies demonstrate the exact opposite. For example, delinquent teens sent off to boot camp-style rehab programs often come out of them having learned new techniques for running faster, climbing higher, and building up muscle -- things that could be ''quite'' useful in the criminal world. The only way in which Scaring 'Em Straight ''is'' successful is when you demonstrate not the consequences of getting caught, but the ''likelihood'' of it -- criminals don't care how scary the punishment itself is so much as that there's a punishment at all.

* In the 90s, British primary school children were treated to a rather well-done fire safety animation called 'Frances the Firefly'. The aforementioned Frances lives in an insect village, but she can't fly very well nor glow as brightly as the other fireflies. So, a bratty cockroach persuades her to use a large match instead, which results in her burning off her wings, dropping the match in pain, and burning most of the village down.

[[folder: Comedy]]

** There's also "motivational speaker" Matt Foley, who's thrice-divorced, strongly implied to be alcoholic, and [[CatchPhrase lives in a van down by the river]]. His tactic is the reverse of most motivational speakers, trying to motivate young people to ''not'' turn out like him.

* ''Series/VousLesFemmes'' wrestles with the known problem of weaning the [[UsefulNotes/{{France}} French]] off one of the national passions - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iktQMAahRZY&t=1s smoking]]. The usually ignored public health warning on the cigarette packet becomes '''Fumer Donne L'Accent Belge.'''When a cosmopolitan Parisian woman, speaking correct metropolitan French, lights up and takes a few drags... her accent does indeed change to [[UsefulNotes/{{Belgium}} Belgian]]. Her eyes widen in absolute horror and she drops the cigarette and runs off screaming. Her curious friend picks up the discarded cigarette and takes a drag. Her spoken accent in French also transforms. She too screams in terror. [[note]]The Belgian accent is thought of by the French, especially in Paris, as being unlovely and lumpen. Americans: think {{Joisey}}. Brits: think [[UsefulNotes/TheWestMidlands Birmingham/Black Country.]] Same vibe.[[/note]] Even for those who do not speak French: the change in Judith Siboni's voice is abrupt and obvious.

* ''Series/VousLesFemmes'' wrestles with the known problem of weaning the [[UsefulNotes/{{France}} French]] off one of the national passions - [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iktQMAahRZY&t=1s smoking]]. The usually ignored public health warning on the cigarette packet becomes '''Fumer Donne L'Accent Belge.'''When a cosmopolitan Parisian woman, speaking correct metropolitan French, lights up and takes a few drags... her accent does indeed change to [[UsefulNotes/{{Belgium Belgian]]. Her eyes widen in absolute horror and she drops the cigarette and runs off screaming. Her curious friend picks up the discarded cigarette and takes a drag. Her spoken accent in French also transforms. She too screams in terror. [[note]]The Belgian accent is thought of by the French, especially in Paris, as being unlovely and lumpen. Americans: think {{Joisey}}. Brits: think [[UsefulNotes/TheWestMidlands birmingham/Black Country.]] Same vibe.[[/note]] Even for those who do not speak French: the change in Judith Siboni's voice is abrupt and obvious.

* ''WesternAnimation/Animaniacs2020'': In "The Hamburg Tickler", Dr Scratchansniff attempts to use this tactic on the Warners.

Also, this trope is not necessarily limited to children. Some [[PublicServiceAnnouncement PSAs]] are actually designed for adults, particularly in regards to drunk driving.

** But with computer-aided special effects, driver's education movies and PublicServiceAnnouncement films pitching driver safety have often gone back to being stunningly graphic. An example that comes to mind is ''Film/OnlyStwpdCowzTxtNDrive'', a British [=PSA=] that warns of the dangers of texting while driving. [[note]]''Only Stwpd Cows ... " was based on [[RippedFromTheHeadlines a real-life story]] where a teen-aged driver who was trying to send a text message caused a three-vehicle accident on a rural South Wales highway; four people died in that crash and the driver was sentenced to prison.[[/note]] The centerpiece of that film was a four-minute scene depicting the crash (which lasts 30 seconds, and shows three teen-aged girls suffering violent whiplash as they are thrown about the car) and the bloody aftermath. Later in the film, one of the deceased victims is shown in the morgue as her parents are asked to confirm the identify of her body.

** While much of the film ''can'' be pretty laughable, there is ''one'' scene that actually does its job right — Sharon unintentionally drinks some weed killer, and goes home not feeling well. Shortly afterward, the film fades in to a shot of her house late that night, and while [[ScreamDiscretionShot you never get to see what's happening inside the house]], [[HellIsThatNoise you can hear Sharon crying and screaming in agony from the chemical poisoning and calling for her mother]] as the lights turn on. The next scene shows Sharon's mother [[PersonalEffectsReveal clearing her bedroom of her belongings and her now-empty bed]].

* German author Gudrun Pausewang does this so well, it makes her the queen of HONF. Most (in)famous example: ''Die letzten Kinder von Schewenborn'' (The last kids of Schewenborn), about the life of an ordinary German family during and after global thermonuclear war. Including excessive descriptions of radiation sickness, mutilated people, lots of children dying (incl. all the siblings of the narrator), a baby born eyeless and armless, the mother of the family going mad and forcing the family to return to Frankfurt, which she believes wasn't destroyed (of course it was, being one of Germany's most important cities), and also the description of the helplessness of the people. She also wrote books about a nuclear power plant going Chernobyl in Germany, the poorness of people in third-world country, another right-wing populist taking power in Germany, and a biography of young UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. Some of these books even got prizes for being (supposedly) good literature.

* ''Film/{{Hairspray}}'' [[ParodiedTrope parodies]] [[TheSixties 1960's]] drunk driving {{Public Service Announcement}}s with the [[LyricalDissonance perky, up-tempo]] curtain closer ''"Blood On The Pavement''."

* In the Treegasm episode of ''WesternAnimation/UglyAmericans'', Mark has [[AnythingThatMoves Randall]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext convince a tree to stay with its girlfriend]] by giving it a ''very'' long and ''very'' detailed account of his sexual history, culminating with "Oh, and also, my dick recently fell off. I don't know how I forgot that little chestnut."

* Anti-drug [=PSAs=] frequently backfire for this reason. For instance, they scare kids with TheAggressiveDrugDealer, making them think it's impossible to say no to someone who tries to sell you drugs (not strictly true). Or they go into gory detail about the consequences of drug abuse, which aren't always [[MarijuanaIsLSD accurate for the drug in question]]. Or they may even have ulterior motives; during the Prohibition era in the U.S., the government launched a widespread DryCrusader program which was actually pushed on them by the Women's Christian Temperance Union, whose goal was to [[PoliticallyMotivatedTeacher recruit children into the movement]]. All of this makes such programs very risky; if the audience is largely comprised of teenagers with a built-in mistrust of TheMan, they could (and often do) wind up believing that ''everything'' the government says about drugs is untrue, leading to a feedback loop that causes them to go into progressively harder drugs -- whose negative consequences need no exaggeration to be scary. This has been known for ages (in North America, for decades studies have shown that its (in)famous D.A.R.E. program does exactly this), but schools and organizations just can't help themselves.

* Parents will occasionally do this by organizing a run-in with the police (particularly if the kid risks getting in trouble with them for real) in which a cop will lock up the kid for ten minutes and then explain it as a consequence of being naughty. For whatever reason, it seems to lead to art; among the artists who recounted being subjected to this were Creator/HarlanEllison and Creator/AlfredHitchcock, the latter of whom developed a lifelong fear of TheMan as a result and used it as a recurring theme in his work.

Also, this trope is not necessarily limited to children. Some PSAs are actually designed for adults, particularly in regards to drunk driving.

* Drunk driving can lead to catastrophic accidents for the driver, their passengers and anybody they hit. Hence the decades of PSAs reminding people not to drink and drive. Many of these ads are aimed at adults as much as they are at children, and can run late in the evening. One thing that might make them more effective than other PSAs is that they don't necessarily discourage people from drinking socially, but just plan for becoming too tanked to get behind the wheel.

Also, this trope is not necessarily limited to children. Some PSAs are actually designed for adults, particularly in regards to drunk driving. Depending on your point of view, these ads might be a case of SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped, particularly if they discuss something that's still tragically common and can utterly devastate its victims.

* Drunk driving can lead to catastrophic accidents for the driver, their passengers and anybody they hit. Hence the decades of PSAs reminding people not to drink and drive. Many of these ads are aimed at adults as much as they are at children, and can run late in the evening. They're also arguably a case of SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped, given what driving under the influence can cause. One thing that might make them more effective than other PSAs is that they don't necessarily discourage people from drinking socially, but just plan for becoming too tanked to get behind the wheel.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': Gary Seven's plan in [[Recap/StarTrekS2E26AssignmentEarth "Assignment: Earth"]] is to cause an orbiting nuclear weapons platform to malfunction and ''almost'' start WorldWarIII in order to convince the politicians to give up on deploying such weapons.