Omaha Suicide PSAs

The Omaha Suicide PSAs were a series of PSAs that were reported on the website Kindertrauma in 2021. They mentioned seeing an ad some time from 2008-2011 in the Omaha, Nebraska area that was for suicide prevention. They turned out to be for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, in an anti-meth campaign.

Plot

Downward Spiral

This PSA features a male narrator describing the things that happened due to his meth addiction. The ad starts with a man turning on a record player, which starts a chain of things falling that results in the TV exploding, breaking some tableware, and lighting what appears to be a table filled with baby supplies. In this scene, a teddy bear lights itself on fire with a match. The ad then rewinds itself, as the man shares some of what happened, such as stealing from his friends, and even missing his son's birth. The screen then shows the slogan "Meth took it all away, just like that", before going to a black screen, giving a website and a phone number for help and support.

Laura

This PSA starts with the text "On June 22, Laura Radovolsky explored a museum of what she lost to meth". It shows a woman walking around a white warehouse, with a large photo of a little girl in the background, as well as a video of a family. An eerie, slowed down version of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star is playing in the background. She enters a little girl's room, where she cuddles a teddy bear, and winds up laying down on the bed, screaming in terror. She then goes into a room filled with children's drawings, picking them up and looking at them, before knocking them down. The ad shows the tagline "Meth can take it all away", before giving the same website and phone number.

Airings

It was reported to have been seen on KETV, the ABC station in Omaha, Nebraska, specifically during the 6:00 news hour. The PSAs were said to have aired "all of the time". A user in the LCF server reported seeing the first ad during Wheel of Fortune.

The Search

After the original post was uploaded on August 30th, 2021, another individual on the server came forward with remembering it. After researching the stations that aired in the Omaha area at the time, server administrator Automaton sent the two ads in on the server, uploading them on November 8th, 2021, and it was confirmed by user Pot8o that these were the ads they had seen. It was later confirmed on the original site as well.

Downward Spiral
Laura