A Public service announcement is a somewhat brief public interest message that has the intention of raising awareness and educating it’s audience about a behavior or issue with the goal of motivating them to change or cause change.
PSA’s are similar to Public notices in that they are not selling anything. Like a Public Notice they also answer the questions why and what. Why the audience should care about the issue, and what the audience can do about it this means including detailing out what exact action you expect your audience to take to create the change necessary
How to write a Public Service Announcement
The first step to writing a PSA after you identify the subject of the PSA is to Define the audience
This means identifying where they are ( location)
who they are (age, gender, and ethnicity)
and their values are ( religion and lifestyle)
and even what industry of job they might work or be active in.
Next, you will want to decide on the tone of your Public Service Announcement. Decide if your ad will be humorous or appeal more to their values and beliefs. Furthermore you will want to think about what type of elements and/or imagery you want to use to catch the attention of your audience.
What to include in your PSA
Because PSA’s are intended to cause a reaction and spark change in the audience, they frequently use emotional language and jarring or alarming imagery to evoke a response. It is neccassary for the audience to understand the importance of the consequences of their inaction or actions.
Most of the time, PSAs depict images that may be considered jarring. This is because PSAs are intended to cause a reaction. They are intended to alarm the reader enough so that they understand the importance of their actions or the consequences of their inaction. For more information on Public service announcements please see this additional post