Mr. Yuk: The 40-year-old PSA that continues to save lives

Many adults today still recognize the scowling, green face of Mr. Yuk, the public service announcement created by Richard Moriarty in 1971 to deter kids from dangerous chemicals.  Along with the image of the infamous character being printed on millions of household products, a 60-second corresponding video clip debuted on television during the 1975 Super Bowl, making the dangers of poison known to children all across the nation (McCarrick).  It features cartoons backed with a catchy tune—a distinctly memorable viewing experience that represents an ingenious act of communication.  Through the use of combined audio and visual techniques, Moriarty successfully communicates an important safety message to a target audience of young children.

Successful acts of communication often have one thing in common: an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the listening party.   For Mr. Yuk, the intended audience is a very narrow age range of children: those older than five years old but still too young to fully comprehend the dangers of poison (Moore).  As this age demographic is known to have a very short attention span (Moyer), this restriction likely has a large influence on the strong imagery that characterizes Mr. Yuk.  Rather than wasting precious time using words or other literary elements that require a higher level of comprehension, the image’s sickly green face of disgust provokes widespread fear in its intended audience in a matter of milliseconds.  Moriarty knew this for a fact because, during the first stages of development, he surveyed children to determine the scariest combination of colors and faces for the design that would discourage them from playing with potentially dangerous items (McCarrick).  After letting kids vote, the results indicated that the green, scowling face was the most unattractive.  Listening is an important element of communication, and Moriarty takes this to heart by allowing his audience’s input and feedback to influence his final design.

Moriarty’s other decisions that serve to efficiently and visually communicate the dangers of poison are demonstrated in the video, and they include the image of toxic household products morphing into goblin-like creatures, followed by children holding their stomachs in pain (Moriarty).  This depiction of dangerous chemicals as monsters is a non-literary instance of symbolism.  It uses the concept of monsters, which is familiar to everyone at a young age, to briefly explain in a matter of seconds that unmarked substances can be equated to scary, teeth-baring goblins.  Immediately following is a series of children pictured after consuming such chemicals.  Coupled with the repetition of the word “sick” three times (Moriarty), this audio-visual connection establishes a strong message using a limited vocabulary and universal images of illness, enabling it to be understood by any viewer, no matter how young.

Not only does the corresponding audio use repetition to emphasize certain words, but in fact all of Moriarty’s chosen lyrics are carefully constructed to appeal to his audience.  The opening line, “Mr. Yuk is green / Mr. Yuk is mean” (Moriarty) makes use of simple rhyming phrases to describe the character in question.   Repetition and rhyming are two of the most prominent features of children’s songs and are the main reason why people can still recite them decades later.  With this in mind, Moriarty uses an AABB rhyme scheme—possibly one of the simplest rhyme schemes—throughout the lyrics, allowing for the conclusion of each line to be remembered easily.  When sung to the underlying music, this creates a catchy tune that could be stuck in one’s head for years to follow.

Also within the video, the music itself contains elements that strengthen Moriarty’s message.  The song begins and ends with evil-sounding laughter followed by the notes of an A minor chord.  In many instances of music theory, a minor key is used to establish a tone of negative emotion—darkness, fright, or sadness—as opposed to a major key, which is much more optimistic and positive (Farley).  The reason for this distinction lies in humans having accumulated experiences associating each type of key with its respective emotions from the very moment our ears are able to hear (Williamson).  Such an age is estimated to be around the fifth or sixth month in the womb, meaning that even a young child’s ears have been accustomed to associating negative emotions with a minor key.  Through the lines, “Home is full of lots of things that children shouldn't touch / Home is full of bad things that can hurt you very much” (Moriarty) this creepy minor key is present, implying that these statements should be taken seriously because danger is present.  In the following line, “Now there's a man whose face is green that you ought to get to know,” the notes follow a C major chord, temporarily changing the pattern to a major structure because this is where the solution to the problem is introduced.  The key change provides a glimmer of hope amidst a setting of terror, and although subtle, the use of musical structure to enhance the idea of Mr. Yuk is another clever method of communication that Moriarty adds to make his message clear.

The combination of music, lyrics, and visual images make the format of this public service announcement—a short video aired on national television—ideal for its target audience.  With the lives of children at stake, Dr. Richard Moriarty, the creator of Mr. Yuk, makes several decisions to perfect this act of communication.  From strong visual components to short memorable phrases to a distinct chord structure, Moriarty tailors the format of his message to appeal to children that are slightly over five years of age in order to warn them of the dangers of poison.  Through these techniques, Moriarty demonstrates that successful communication is a result of listening to one’s audience and understanding which techniques are best received among them.  As it turns out, approximately 60% adults today still recognize the face of Mr. Yuk, and those that do are better educated on how to deal with poisoning incidents (Oderda).  Not only does this prove that Moriarty succeeded in effectively conveying a safety message to children, but it sets a standard for future instances of communication in which overwhelming gaps in age—or really any discrepancy between two parties—can be overcome simply by choosing the right literary and non-literary techniques to convey such a message.

Works Cited

Farley, Charlotte A. F. “The Creepy Minor Key.” Musical U. 29 Apr. 2019. www.musical-u.com/learn/the-creepy-minor-key/.

Oderda, G M, and W Klein-Schwartz. “Public awareness survey: the Maryland Poison Center and Mr. Yuk, 1981 and 1975.” Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974) vol. 100,3 (1985): 278-82.

McCarrick, Christopher, and Tim Ziaukas. "Still Scary After All These Years: Mr. Yuk Nears 40." Western Pennsylvania History: 1918-2018 (2009): 18-31.

Moore, Michael. “Mr. Yuk Is Mean; Mr. Yuk Is Green: Pennsylvania Center for the Book.” Mr. Yuk Is Mean; Mr. Yuk Is Green | Pennsylvania Center for the Book, pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/feature-articles/mr-yuk-mean-mr-yuk-green. 

Moriarty, Richard. Mr. Yuk Commercial. Public Television, 1975.

Moyer, Kenneth E., and B. von Haller Gilmer. “The Concept of Attention Spans in Children.” The Elementary School Journal, vol. 54, no. 8, 1954, pp. 464–466. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/998982.

Williamson, Vicky. "The Science Of Music – Why Do Songs In A Minor Key Sound Sad?” NME Blog. 14 Feb. 2013. https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/the-science-of-music-why-do-songs-in-a-minor-key-sound-sad-760215