Monkey on Their Backs

Monkey on Their Backs
Ladies, gentlemen, and non-binary people... the first known screamer ever...
About This Commercial
Company	Unknown
Type	Commercial
Aired in	1970
Other information
Banned advert	No
Country	United States
To advertise	the Awareness of Heroin

Monkey on Their Backs is an anti-heroin PSA created by National Clearinghouse for Drug Abuse Information (Which is part of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is now called as National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information) in the early 70's.

It first shows a wind-up monkey crashing its cymbals as a little girl's voice says, "They say, people addicted to heroin have a monkey on their back. Isn't that cute?". Suddenly, the wind-up monkey stops playing as the camera zooms in on the monkey's face, which suddenly switches to a still of a real-life monkey screaming at the viewer, accompanied by a loud primate scream. White text appears reading "Why do you think they call it DOPE?". This is generally considered to be the very first video ever made which can be called a screamer as we know it today, even though the term wasn't coined until the 2000's, when online pranks like Kikia and What's Wrong became popular.

Links

NOTE: The following video contains a screamer!

• youtube.com/watch?v=AegsJYtwccw
• 16mm version: youtube.com/watch?v=ai3RvxSoCdk

Monkey on Their Backs is part of a series on

The Exorcist - Original Theatrical Trailer ⟡ Faroe Islands (WDC) ⟡ Jumyou Ga Chijimaru ⟡ Monkey on Their Backs ⟡ Budd Dwyer’s Suicide ⟡ Ricardo López's Suicide ⟡ Dumb Animals ⟡ The Scavengers ⟡ Burger King Kids Club Commercial - The Simpsons ⟡ Bowlgirl ⟡ Peperami - Running ⟡ OFEX ⟡ The Chase ⟡ ChechClear ⟡ Environmental Investigation Agency - Tigers ⟡ BME Pain Olympics ⟡ Teletoon at Night Bumper

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