The Uses and Efiects of Public Service Advertising

Public service advertisings (PSAs) typically attempt to increase public awareness of such problems and their possible solutions, and in many instances also try to influence public beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors concerning them. Most PSAs emanate from not-for-profit or governmental organizations and receive gratis placement in broadcast and print media. Mass media audiences appear fairly attentive to PSAs and have generally favorable reactions to them. A 1980 national probability sample survey of 1,500 US adults by authors found that 30% said they paid “a lot” of attention to televised PSAs, and another 44% claimed to pay at least “some” attention to them. Moreover, PSA recall was higher for those more attentive to certain public affairs contents, those more knowledgeable about current events, and for those engaged in more reflective, interpretive news information processing. PSAs appeared to have greater attitudinal effects on some persons while not necessarily increasing their information, whereas for other individuals it stimulated behavioral changes without concurrent attitudinal ones.