Public service announcement

PSA (aka Public Service Announcement) was also the planned title of the song and single Bad Day by R.E.M.

A public service announcement (PSA) or community service announcement (CSA) is a non-commercial advertisement, typically on radio or television, broadcast for the public good.

The main concept is to modify public attitudes by raising awareness about specific issues, but some say that PSAs are a waste of tax money.

PSAs in the United States

Often, a celebrity promotes a foundation and asks for support to be given by viewers or listeners. An example being Michael J. Fox's PSAs in the US supporting research into Parkinson's Disease, from which he suffers. Some are public awareness campaigns, lobbying, for example, against smoking or compulsive gambling. Other times, they are produced by individuals in prison, as a means of "scaring straight" listeners. One PSA was produced by Crips street gang leader Stanley "Tookie" Williams, urging youth listening not to join gangs. Some religious groups produce PSAs about non-religious themes such as family values as a means of increasing awareness of their church, and to show the role the church has in serving the community. Examples include a long running campaign from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and more recently the United Methodist Church. Finally, the military produces PSAs to recruit new enlistees, however, more recently, they have gone to paid advertising and sponsorship as recruiting becomes more difficult.

The Ad Council is the largest distributor of PSAs in the United States.

Worldwide

In Australia, Christian media associations have produced CSAs for broadcast under certain provisions of the broadcasting legislation.

Well-known PSAs

• Crash test dummy - "You can Learn a Lot from a Dummy," Vince and Larry on seatbelts.
• G.I. Joe's "And knowing is half the battle!"
• Heritage Minutes
• Hinterland Who's Who
• Keep America Beautiful
• Love. It Comes in All Colors
• McGruff the Crime Dog "Take a bite out of crime!"
• Smokey Bear "Only you can prevent forest fires!"
• The More You Know
• This is Your Brain on Drugs
• Woodsy Owl
• Crying Indian
• Mr. Yuk

See also

• Public Information Film (television spots produced by the British government)
• propaganda

External links

• Ad Council, the largest distributor of public service announcements in the United States
• Overview of NBC's "The More You Know"