| Problems listening to this file? See media help. |
A public service announcement (PSA) or community service announcement (CSA) is an advertisement broadcast on radio or television, for the public interest. PSAs are intended to modify public attitudes by raising awareness about specific issues. The most common topics of PSAs are health and safety. A typical PSA is part of a public awareness campaign to inform or educate the public about an issue such as smoking or compulsive gambling. Contrary to popular belief, political campaign advertisements are not PSAs.
Public service advertising campaigns are widespread around the world. Such advertising is generally produced and distributed on a cooperative basis by governmental agencies or nonprofit organizations acting in concert with private advertising and mass media companies. In most cases, the nonprofit provides the programming that is to be advertised, while the participating advertising agency and media companies provide creative services, media planning, and dissemination services on a pro bono basis.
From time to time a charitable organization releases a PSA enlists the support of a celebrity; examples include Michael J. Fox's PSAs in the U.S. supporting research into Parkinson's Disease and Crips street gang leader Stanley "Tookie" Williams speaking from prison to urge youth not to join gangs.
Some religious organizations produce PSAs on non-religious themes such as family values. Examples include the long-running homefront campaign[1] 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 produces PSAs to recruit enlistees, in addition to paid advertising and sponsorship efforts.
In the U.S, the role of PSAs was affected by deregulation of the broadcasting industry in the 1980s. Previously, a broadcast license was assigned to a television or radio station that was expected to serve as a "public trustee" by airing PSAs (in addition to meeting other requirements).[2]
United States producers distribute traditional PSAs distributed to station directors.
Some television shows featuring very special episodes made PSAs after the episodes. For example, Conrad Bain of Diff'rent Strokes spoke two PSAs after the episodes dealing with child sexual abuse and hitchhiking.
Public service advertising is the use of commercial advertising techniques for non-commercial purposes (see also propaganda). Typical topics for public service advertising include public health/public safety issues, emergency preparedness instructions, natural resources conservation information, and other topics of broad interest.
Public service advertising campaigns are widespread around the world. Such advertising is generally produced and distributed on a cooperative basis by governmental agencies or nonprofit organizations acting in concert with private advertising and mass media companies. In most cases, the nonprofit provides the programming that is to be advertised, while the participating advertising agency and media companies provide creative services, media planning, and dissemination services on a pro bono basis.
| It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with public service announcement. (Discuss) |
One of the best-known forms of public service advertising is that which is broadcast on television. These televised "spot" announcements, known in the USA as public service announcements (PSAs) and in the UK as public information film (PIFs), are often striking in their presentation and occasionally become well-known aspects of popular culture among their audiences. Examples of such well-known public service campaigns are the "Smokey Bear" PSA campaigns produced in the U.S. for the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service, the "Fried Egg" campaign produced by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, and the "Crying Indian" PSA dealing with litter in the USA. Other notable campaigns in Europe include the "Charley Says" series in the UK. Other notable examples are the Protect and Survive series of emergency-preparedness PIFs produced during the early 1980s by the BBC for broadcast in the UK before and during nuclear warfare. These films, which contained information on nuclear weapons effects, constructing a fallout shelter, and emergency mortuary practices, among other topics, were widely-known and were featured in commercial films and music recordings of the time, but for obvious reasons were never transmitted.
Non-commercial advertising, public service advertising, public interest advertising, issue advertising, Cause-related Marketing, public education campaigns and social marketing are different terms for (or aspects of) the use of sophisticated marketing communications techniques (generally associated with commercial enterprise) on behalf of non-commercial initiatives.
|
|
Wikis
Search
