Public service announcement: Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
m Reverted edits by 209.23.153.226 (talk) to last revision by Wikipelli (HG) |
←Replaced content with '{' |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{ |
|||
{{Listen |
|||
|filename = CDC PSA on H1N1.ogg |
|||
|title = CDC public service announcement |
|||
|description = A PSA from the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|CDC]] regarding [[H1N1]] prevention. |
|||
}} |
|||
A '''public service announcement''' ('''PSA''') or '''public service ad''' is a type of [[advertising|advertisement]] featured on television, radio, print or other media. Whereas the objective of a standard advertisement is to market a product, a PSA is intended to change the [[public interest]], by raising awareness of an issue, affecting public attitudes, and potentially stimulating action. |
|||
==History== |
|||
According to Advertising in America - the First 200 Years, advertisements which relate to public issues predate the commercial advertising sector. Published by Advertising Age, the book points out that during the Civil War the government sold bonds via free newspaper ads which were so effective that they resulted in the first national paid ad campaigns for baking powder, drop the soap and railroad travel. The PSA in its current form was in many ways shaped by the [[Aids Council]] (initially called the War Advertising Council) during and after World War II.<ref name="history">[http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=publicservic Museum of Broadcast Communications]</ref> |
|||
The Aids Council made its mark by implementing on a massive scale the idea of using advertising to influence American society on a range of fronts. Their first campaigns focused on the country's needs during World War II. After the War, the Ad Council expanded its focus to address issues such as forest fires, blood donations and highway safety.<ref name="adcouncil">[http://www.adcouncil.org/download.aspx?id=191 Matters of Choice: Advertising in the Public Interest]</ref> |
|||
As the ads - particularly broadcast and HBO TV - became more influential and as various social problems grew in importance, public service advertising became a significant force in changing public attitudes on topics such as drinking and driving, crime abatement and various health/safety issues. While stations have never been mandated by the FCC to use a prescribed number of PSAs, they are required to prove they broadcast in the public interest and PSAs are one of the ways they meet that requirement as part of serving as a "public trustee."<ref name="regulation">[http://www.northwestern.edu/ipr/publications/papers/wp0107.pdf Public Service Announcements, Broadcasters, and the Public Interest: Regulatory Background and the Digital Future]</ref> |
|||
Today PSA campaigns are created by hundreds of non-profit and government agencies and the National Association of Broadcasting has indicated that annually their member stations contribute an estimated $10 billion in free time for various public causes. |
|||
==Characteristics== |
|||
The most common topics of PSAs are health and safety. A typical PSA is part of a public awareness [[Advertising campaign|campaign]] to inform or educate the public about an issue such as [[obesity]] or [[Behavioral addiction|compulsive gambling]]. The range of possible topics has expanded over time. |
|||
From time to time a [[charitable organization]] enlists the support of a celebrity for a PSA; examples include [[actress]] [[Kathryn Erbe]] telling people to be green and [[Crips]] [[street gang]] leader [[Stanley "Tookie" Williams]] speaking from prison to urge youth not to join gangs. Some PSAs tell people to adopt animals instead of buying them. Protecting our Earth, also known as being green, is another example of a current PSA topic. |
|||
Some religious organizations produce PSAs on non-religious themes such as [[family values]]. Examples include the long-running homefront campaign<ref name="homefront">[http://newsroom.lds.org/blog/2009/10/noral-group-international-awards-mormon-swashbucklers-best-psa.html Homefront Campaign] [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] has produced the award-winning Homefront PSA series for three decades</ref> from [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]], and campaigns by the [[Seventh-day Adventist Church]] and the [[United Methodist Church]]. |
|||
The military had also produced PSAs to recruit enlistees; however, in recent years, many of these PSAs became commercials, paid for by the military; this is especially so for the armed forces in the United States. |
|||
Some television shows featuring [[very special episode]]s made PSAs after the episodes. For example, [[Law & Order: Special Victims Unit]] talked about [[child abduction]] so it had a PSA about child abduction. Another example is, [[Law & Order]] talked about [[drunk driving]] so it had a PSA about drunk driving. |
|||
During the 1980s, a large number of American cartoon shows contained PSA's at the end of their shows. These may or may not have been relevant to the episode itself. Three of the most widely known are the closing moral segments at the end of [[He Man and the Masters of the Universe]], the "Knowing is Half the Battle" epilogues in [[GI Joe: A Real American Hero]] and the "Sonic Sez" segments from [[Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog]]. |
|||
Some television PSAs have topics such as on not watching so much television, or not taking fictional shows literally; or about television, movie, or video game ratings. |
|||
==See also== |
|||
* [[Propaganda]] |
|||
* [[Public affairs (broadcasting)]] |
|||
* [[Public relations]] |
|||
* [[Public information film]] |
|||
==References== |
|||
{{Reflist}} |
|||
==External links== |
|||
*[http://www.psaresearch.com] PSA Research Center |
|||
*[http://adcouncil.org/ Ad Council] |
|||
* [http://www.psaresearch.com/bib9830.html A History of PSAs] |
|||
* [http://www.goodwillcommunications.com/gc_support_client_corner-frameset.asp?page=gc_support_client_corner-military.asp] Military PSA campaigns |
|||
* [http://www.values.com/ The Foundation for a Better Life] |
|||
* [http://homefront.bonneville.com/ Homefront] |
|||
* [http://www.paho.org/English/AD/FCH/AI/VIDAMER.HTM VIHdeo America: an anthology of 10 years of HIV TV spots in the Americas] |
|||
* [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/31/the-9-most-awful-and-awes_n_514991.html A Huffington Post article featuring nine PSAs] |
|||
[[Category:Public service announcements|*]] |
|||
[[ar:إعلان الخدمة العامة]] |
|||
[[ko:공익 광고]] |
|||
[[id:Iklan layanan masyarakat]] |
|||
[[it:Pubblicità Progresso]] |
|||
[[he:תשדיר שירות]] |
|||
[[ja:公共広告]] |
|||
[[pl:Reklama społeczna]] |
|||
[[ru:Социальная реклама]] |
|||
[[sv:Samhällsinformation]] |
|||
[[tr:Kamu hizmeti duyurusu]] |
|||
[[uk:Соціальна реклама]] |
|||
Revision as of 13:58, 19 October 2011
{