Betty Brinkley PSA

The Betty Brinkley PSA is a 1982 public service announcement created by the New York City Fire Department. The PSA warns of the dangers of careless smoking. The PSA was considered lost until a broadcast of it during a Good Morning America segment featuring Betty Brinkley, the woman in the commercial, was recovered from the Internet Archive on November 20, 2021.

Plot

Most of the commercial features Brinkley holding a photo of herself from before her husband and children were killed in a 1977 house fire caused by her husband smoking a cigarette in bed. Brinkley then puts the photo down to reveal her current face, which was visibly disfigured due to the fire. A narrator then speaks over footage of a burning cigarette.

Transcript

Brinkley: Smoking finally caught up with me. No, I don't have cancer. No, it's not emphysema either. In fact, I seldom even smoked. My husband did. In bed. It was his last. I guess you could say... Brinkley puts the photo down I was the lucky one.
Narrator: Every year, over 8,000 people are killed or disfigured by careless smoking. Send for our specially-prepared booklet, and there's a good chance you won't be one of them. Provided as a public service by the New York City Fire Department.

Airings

The commercial aired in 1982 in the New York City metropolitan area. Allegedly, it often aired before Saturday morning cartoons.

The Search

On December 26, 2017, author and Fangoria magazine editor-in-chief Phil Nobile Jr. made a now-deleted Twitter post recalling the commercial. He was profoundly disturbed by the commercial, describing it as "the most terrifying thirty seconds of video I have ever seen." Over the years, people would respond to the post with their own recollections and findings; in February 2020, one user uncovered a 1982 newspaper article about the commercial.

On May 30, 2021, the search for the PSA began on the Lost Commercials Foundation Discord server, and Automaton created a thread on the Lost Media Wiki Forums about it. A New York Times article which said the PSA began airing in April 1982 was soon discovered.

On November 20, 2021, Lost Commercials Foundation member ChristopherT2004 discovered a Good Morning America segment featuring Brinkley on the Internet Archive. The segment contains the PSA; however, the Good Morning America anchor talks over the opening line of it, and a "PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT" graphic briefly appears in the middle of the ad. On January 12, 2024, Gone But Not Forgotten T.V. uploaded an unaltered version of the PSA, presumably from a more traditional broadcast.