Shining laser pointers at airplanes is apparently a big enough problem in Canada that the government is taking swift action, and it thinks a new social media campaign will make culprits stop — even though it hasn't really worked before.

"Pointing a laser at an aircraft is not only a reckless act that puts people at unnecessary risk, it's simply not a bright idea," Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau said at a press conference entirely devoted to the problem on Tuesday. "I take this type of behavior seriously because Canadians and their families deserve to feel safe while flying."

The ensuing social media campaign launched by the minister comes complete with a knock-off of YouTube sensation Dumb Ways to Die.

Garneau said the lasers endanger the lives of pilots, air travelers, and those on land. The beams coming from laser enthusiasts can be distracting for pilots in flight and cause temporary blindness.

The new social media campaign comes a year after the previous Conservative government implemented its own plan to combat the problem entitled "not a bright idea."

"A laser is not a toy," the site scolds. "If you see someone point a laser at an aircraft, report it immediately to your local police." For those who still want to shoot a laser toward the sky, for some reason, people are urged to fill out a proposal form or "speak with your local astronomy club — they may have additional information for you."

However it's unclear how effective that campaign was, and many other countries around the world have also tried to combat the problem, which seems to be on the rise.

According to the Canadian Press, there were 600 incidents involving laser pointers at planes in Canada, a sharp increase from 502 such incidents in 2014, the year that already saw a 43 percent increase since 2012. And things are set to get worse this year, as there have been 148 reports of these cases so far, including a laser attack on a WestJet flight landing at Toronto Pearson airport last March that left the pilot with a "headache, blurred vision, and dry eyes."

It's illegal in Canada for anyone to point a laser at an aircraft, and the penalty can include steep fines of up to $100,000 and a prison sentence of up to five years.

Yet documents submitted to the former Conservative transport minister, released to the Canadian Press under an access to information request, show that it's difficult to prosecute offenders, in spite of the robust laws already in place.

"While some stakeholders have suggested further legislative changes regarding directed light source," the document reads. "There is ample legislative and regulatory deterrents."

Unruly laser beams are also a problem around the world, especially in the UK where more than 8,898 "laser incidents" were reported to the country's Civil Aviation Authority from 2009 to 2015. In 2014, there were 1,440 similar incidents reported at Heathrow airport.

Following a Virgin Atlantic flight being forced to turn back after it was struck by a beam outside Heathrow Airport in March, the British Airline Pilots association called for laser points to be classified as offensive weapons.

"Aircraft are attacked with lasers at an alarming rate and with lasers with ever-increasing strength," the association's spokesperson told the BBC. "Modern lasers have the power to blind and certainly to act as a huge distraction as to dazzle the pilots during critical phases of flight."

In 2014, three men were jailed in England for pointing laser pens at plans landing at the East Midlands Airport.

In the US, there was more than 5,352 laser incidents reported to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), up from 3,894 in 2014. Last November, more than 20 airplanes in the country were hit by laser beams in one night, including in Puerto Rico, New York and Texas. It's also a crime in the US.

Patrick Murphy, a laser safety expert who advises the US FAA wrote on LaserPointerSafety.com advocating that pilots should be taught how to respond to incidents involving a laser beam during flight.

"You could ban all the lasers on the ground and do a lot of other things, but still someone with evil intent may choose to shoot a laser at an airliner, and pilots need to know what the safety factors are, and how to react and recover from this."