Look at this image that was used in a public service announcement for teenagers about body image.

A public service announcement, commonly known by the PSA acronym, is a message spread in the interest of the public. The objectives of PSAs are to raise awareness and change public attitudes, opinions, or even behavior towards an issue. These messages can be instructional, inspirational, or even shocking to elicit emotion and action.

Inhaltsverzeichnis Show

Why Have Your Students Create a PSA?
How to Write a Public Service Announcement
1. Choose an Issue
2. Hook Your Audience
3. Get Your Facts Straight
4. Be Straightforward
How Can I Use PSAs in the Classroom?
Example PSA Activities
Example Rubric

Why Have Your Students Create a PSA?

A PSA can be a very powerful way to heighten awareness on a certain issue. Many PSA campaigns have educated the public or contributed to social change. The number of people who smoke cigarettes has decreased dramatically since the 1960s, not only because of legal restrictions, but also because the general public as a whole has become more aware of the severe health risks. Consider the effects of famous PSA characters on your own life such as Smokey the Bear or McGruff the Crime Dog and slogans like, “Don’t drink and drive” or “This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs.”

A public service announcement does not need to be a nation-wide endeavor, and can be made in several different types of media. The most commonly used media for PSAs are video on television and the internet, and audio during radio shows or podcasts, but there are many instances of PSAs in print media. On Storyboard That, you can make a digital public service announcement that can be disseminated via email, printed out, or projected during a presentation. You can even add audio!

PSA Example - Train

How to Write a Public Service Announcement

Public service announcements are for the benefit of the public, and usually contain a message that you should take away. What do you want to say? Should you tell a story or make a bold statement? Here are a few steps on how to write a PSA storyboard.

1. Choose an Issue

Select a topic or issue that would benefit the public. This topic may address social or environmental issues such as bullying, littering, or industrial pollution, but also might be on a smaller scale like “push in your chair” or “cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze.” Think about what message you want to get across and to whom you are directing this message.

PSA Example - Fridge

2. Hook Your Audience

A good PSA will be noteworthy for at least one reason. Maybe a PSA will grab attention because of its comedy, shock value, emotionality, or importance to the audience. Make use of the various character positions and expressions to demonstrate an array of emotions. Use eye-catching images in your storyboard cells from the Storyboard That library and Photos For Class, and try not to leave much empty white space. Use dialogue bubbles or other text boxes to explain your message. A very different, but effective, strategy is to limit the text to a single word or slogan, or to leave text out entirely.

PSA - Arrest

What Else is in this Water?

3. Get Your Facts Straight

Research the topic as necessary. If you have incorrect information, your message will quickly lose its credibility. Make sure the factual information that you present, such as statistics examples, is correct and relevant. Use a blend of figurative language, images, and jokes to prove a point, but be sure that you are not insinuating untrue things. Choose appropriate scenes, characters, and items that enhance your message.

4. Be Straightforward

Your public service announcement should be clear and concise. Get your point across without dawdling. If you choose to make a more thought-provoking message, you still want your audience to understand after a moment of consideration, rather than spend time puzzling over the higher meaning.

PSA - Bullying

How Can I Use PSAs in the Classroom?

Use PSA storyboards as an introduction to a unit on persuasive writing. Public service announcements usually do not have legitimate opposing stances, but many public service announcements want to persuade the audience in some way. Creating a PSA storyboard can help students think about their passions, important issues in our society, and convincing reasons to back up claims.

Make storyboards to understand and address contemporary issues in your school, town, country, or world. PSAs can cover numerous serious topics like racism, sex trafficking, drunk driving, drugs, but also smaller concerns in modern life. Here at Storyboard That, we love seeing what the next generation is thinking and how they are going to tackle the problems they are actively inheriting.

Use storyboards as a means of planning for video assignments. PSAs are great templates for advertisements, and often occur alongside commercials on TV, on radio, or in print. Storyboarding is very useful when planning for the needs of filming: set, actors, props, etc. The Fridge and The Arrest storyboards above are two examples of storyboards that could be easily turned into a video.

For recurring issues in your classroom or a reminder about rules and expectations, a comic strip can make a delightful public service announcement. Sometimes making light of a simple (and potentially important) issue, can make a discussion on it easier to start or even have a bigger impact on students.

You or your students can create posters and PSA infographics to hang in the classroom or in the halls of the school to start a movement, like encouraging recycling or reminding their peers about bullying or peer pressure. Often these types of PSAs have a clear statement and call to action, and are made with vibrant, eye-catching colors.

PSA Comic - Test

Example PSA Activities

Example Rubric

Public Service Announcement Storyboard

Showcase or present a public service announcement storyboard. Discuss the effectiveness of the various elements. Use some of these questions to guide the discussion.

What message should you take away? Is the message presented explicitly or implicitly?
Who is the intended audience? Where would you post or present this public service announcement?
Do you believe it? Do you understand why you should [follow the message]?
Do you have an emotional reaction or a personal connection? What in the PSA makes you feel that way?
Are you convinced by this PSA? What are the reasons or evidence, if any, provided on the storyboard?
What would make this a stronger PSA?
How else could you present the same message in a different way? (i.e. use comedy as opposed to emotional connection) Which approach is more effective?

(please click on the image above to enlarge it, or click on the link below)

POSTER

It is one thing to say you are going to do something about a problem, but it’s another thing to believe strongly enough in the problem to actually take action on it. And in our media friendly world, you can make a change with just one click of a button. See how easily the internet can influence you?

Petitions to stop magazines such as Teen Vogue, and toy companies, and other big businesses from digitally altering girls body shapes and faces can be found at change.org. This website is helping to solve the problem of negative body images in teens and young adults. 8th grader Julia Bluhm has already passed 5 “Actions” by the age of just 14. This young girl retrieved over 84,000 signatures on her petition to stop Seventeen magazine from digitally altering girls body images in their spreads… And it worked. Imagine the power we could have if we came together on this issue of society’s absurd body image altering through the media and signed petitions similar to the ones Julia Bluhm has passed. Like Bluhm said herself, “If we can be heard by one magazine, we can do it with another. We are sparking a change!”

When the media photoshops girls body images, it can have psychological effects like stress and depression on people and physical effects like anorexia, bulemia, and binge eating. So by supporting big companies advertising campaigns that use real, un-photoshopped women, such as Dove’s Campaign for “Real Beauty” and American Eagle’s Aerie “The Real You is Sexy” Campaign, the chances of stress, depression, anorexia, bulemia, and binge eating will decrease. Girls self-confidence will increase, big companies advertising campaigns will become much more credible, and we will have an overall much healthier society to live in. Girls won’t feel the need to have to fix their bodies, because society will accept them for who they are regardless of what their body shape looks like.

In addition to companies supporting real women’s body images, some celebrities like Colbie Cailliat and Jennifer Lawrence are making the news with their refusal to be photoshopped in pictures and at photo shoots. They realize how much power the media has on young girls who look up to celebrities like them. They know what they look like before they are photoshopped, and how fake they can look after they arealtered. Celebrities like Cailliat and Lawrence who are taking a serious stand on this issue are certainly being recognized for it.

Take a minute to think about someone that you may know who struggles with their perception of “fitting in” because they feel they are not as perfect as the models used in big companies advertising. I bet you can name at least one person who struggles with their body image, and this may even apply to you, too. With very little time and effort, you can take a step to help them by supporting online petitions and you will get satisfaction knowing you helped someone feel better about themselves.

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The medium I chose to use for this public service announcement was a motivational poster. I included pictures of the celebrities and companies I mentioned in my poster as proof. I want my message to be clear; Women do not have to live by society’s expectations of body images. They can look however they please all while feeling beautiful. No one should have to tell someone what they are “supposed” to look like because they are allowed to express themselves however they want. I chose to motivate my viewers by encouraging them to sign petitions to stop popular magazines from photoshopping and altering women’s bodies. I have signed several of these petitions myself. I gained confidence in myself knowing that I took a public stand on this issue and that it is for a greater cause. I know it is hard for some women to talk about how they feel about their bodies. I just want them to know that everyone has struggled at some point in their life and that they are not ever alone!

References

Dove. “The Dove® Campaign for Real Beauty.” The Dove® Campaign for Real Beauty. Dove, 2015. Web. 20 June 2015. <http://www.dove.us/Social-Mission/campaign-for-real-beauty.aspx>.

Krupnick, Ellie. “Aerie’s Unretouched Ads ‘Challenge Supermodel Standards’ For Young Women.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 25 Jan. 2014. Web. 20 June 2015. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/17/aerie-unretouched-ads-photos_n_4618139.html>.

Burton, Cinya. “J.Law GIF Proves She Was Photoshopped.” E! Online. E! Entertainment Television, 16 Dec. 2013. Web. 20 June 2015. <http://www.eonline.com/news/491273/jennifer-lawrence-gif-proves-she-was-photoshopped-for-flare-magazine-cover>.

Nessif, Bruna. “Colbie Caillat’s Try Video Embraces Natural Beauty.” E! Online. E! Online, 15 July 2014. Web. 26 June 2015. <http://www.eonline.com/news/560236/colbie-caillat-goes-makeup-free-embraces-natural-beauty-in-try-music-video-watch-now>.