Public Service Announcement Essay

773 Words4 Pages

The art of advertisement is used for many different purposes. Some ads are used to persuade the audience in purchasing a product, while others are used to raise awareness of certain situations and causes. Often, awareness ads are referred to as Public Service Announcements (PSA). One awareness ad by ECOVIA deals with the social issue of drunk driving. The advertisement image contains two subjects; a fist and a person’s face. Visually we can see the fist punching the person’s left check, both of which have cars drawn on them. The fist contains a green truck, which appears to be going at a fast speed. On the other hand, we see the face contains a small red car on his left cheek. The image shows the intense impact and detail as both drawn cars …show more content…

As I previously mentioned the future of this world and society lies in our present day young minds. They are the innovators of tomorrow. That being said it makes sense to have an awareness ad be geared towards children. ECOVIA uses visual tools such as the animated drawn cars and the fist punching into the face to attract the eyes of children. The drawn cars are animated in a very cartoonish style, which as we know appeals to children of all ages. In a journal article, Evaluating the Educational Potential of Health PSAs with Preschoolers, by Jessica Taylor Piotrowski and Deborah Linebarger, we find that “Viewing a full-length animated program with prehealth messages embedded effectively reduced the number of unhealthy foods that children selected” (Piotrowski & Linebarger 518). Although this picture ad is not a “full-length” program nor is subject of health/nutrition, the same method applies. We can see the usage of animated figures to reel in the minds of children to effectively project their message. Now I’m sure you’re asking, what role does the fist punching into the face play? This minor violent action adds the shock-value to the advertisement. Children can easily identify with this visual, because the amount of pain received from a punch to the face is generally understandable. This understanding is used to scale the magnitude of a car crash, so children can fully grasp the seriousness of the