What is a PSA?
Created | Updated Nov 25, 2005
PSA Information
A PSA or Public Service Announcement is a FREE advertisement that promotes a public cause or provides the community with important information. The media donates space or air time to the organizations or causes they perceive will be of benefit to their local community or audience constituency. Most PSAs have to do with drugs, smoking, AIDS, or other issues of public concern.
The government pays full price for the PSAs to air, and by law, U.S. broadcasting stations have to follow FCC guidelines involving PSAs and National Emergency Broadcasting Network rules. In the UK - it's not just the BBC that broadcast PSAs, and they are not always aired for free. They are produced by a government agency, the Central Office of Information.
PSA's can be published in all forms of media, both locally and nationally. PSAs are usually provided by broadcast media, such as radio or TV. There is no law requiring the Media to provide air time for the PSAs in the US. They do it out of support for the cause. But, in the U.K. it is part of the BBC's charter to provide Public Service Broadcasting. This is one of the reasons why TV owners have to pay an annual license fee. The number of PSAs aired is normally a function of the media management’s commitment to the community and the amount of available space or time.
The media determines its commitment to PSAs on a case-by-case basis. In larger media markets, the media will most likely have a public service director to screen and evaluate the many requests for free space or air time. National Broadcast media and many cable networks will generally designate full time directors.
Local Broadcast and other media may 'delegate' this responsibility to some key employee who will probably have other responsibilities.
The Public Service Director may receive many requests per day for PSAs. The director has to identify the causes that are in need of support and for which there is an identifiable and direct benefit to the community they serve. The most difficult job of a potential PSA promoter is demonstrating why their cause should be 'favored' over some other organization or cause.
Organizations that have purchased advertising to support their causes in the past, may have unintentionally convinced the media that they do not need free public service support.
A PSA will work if it is interesting and catches the viewer’s attention. The viewer will take the message into account. But if the message is unclear or the PSA is boring, the viewer will will ignore it and it will not get its message across.
~lil_fred333
