(Photo Source: cbsnews.com)
Now, this is not the kind of ad you thought you’d ever see on television
Gun safety group Sandy Hook Promise released a terrifying and heartbreaking PSA this week that shows fictional students using their back-to-school supplies to defend themselves against a school shooter. The ad is meant to raise awareness about the signs of a potential school shooter.
Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit organization created in the wake of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, produced the minute-long public service announcement, which aired for the first time Wednesday morning during NBC’s “Today” show.
The commercial starts out like any typical back-to-school ad, with students showing off their new backpacks and folders. But the ad quickly takes a turn when a young boy says that his new sneakers are “just what I need for the new year,” as he runs away from the shooter in the school hallway. Students are then shown finding new ways to use their supplies as a means of self-defense or escape as a shooter terrorizes their school.
“This jacket is a real must-have,” a young girl says as she uses it to fasten a set of doors shut in the gymnasium so the shooter can’t enter. Another student describes his new skateboard as “pretty cool” before using it to break a window in his classroom to escape.
In the final scene, a crying girl crouched in the darkness sends a text on her phone: “I love you mom,” before the sound of a door opens in the background and the girl closes her eyes silently crying as the footsteps grow louder.
The commercial ends with white words on a black background that say, “It’s back to school time and you know what that means. School shootings are preventable when you know the warning signs.”
For many, the commercial is hard to watch, but Nicole Hockley, whose 6-year-old son was one of the 20 children killed during the 2012 massacre and co-founder of Sandy Hook Promise, says it’s necessary to effect change.
According to a New York Times report, more than 400 people have been shot on campuses nationwide since the Sandy Hook shooting.
By: Maytinee Kramer
