This document provides information about public service announcements (PSAs) and how they use visual rhetoric and message framing to educate audiences. It discusses how PSAs differ from advertisements in their purpose and regulations. PSAs aim to raise awareness on issues for public good, while advertisements sell products. The document also explains the three main types of message frames - negative, positive, neutral - and how framing can be used to spin a message deceptively. It provides tips for choosing a PSA topic, target audience, and creating an effective visual message through images and limited text.

1. Visual Rhetoric and
Public Service Announcements

2. Table of Contents
PSAs vs. Advertising 3-4
PSAs Use Visual Rhetoric. 5
About Message Frames 6-13
Creating Your PSA 14-17
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3. Public Service Announcements vs. Advertising
PSAs and advertisements both make persuasive appeals but their
purposes differ.
The purpose of an advertisement is to sell a product or promote the
interests of partisan, commercial, or denominational groups.
The purpose of a PSA is to educate in order to raise awareness,
change behaviors, attitudes, and/or reduce harmful ignorance on
issues affecting communities and the public good.
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4. PSA vs. Advertising continued
PSAs are always sponsored by a nonprofit or government agency
and are regulated by the FCC.
They are prohibited from:
• soliciting funds from an audience,
• calling upon the audience to take action (such as “come to
tonight’s presentation of x”),
• qualifying a product, service, or event as being better than some
other product, service, or event (or to put another way, all
descriptions must be value-neutral).
Therefore, they must be non-commercial, non-partisan, and
non-denominational.
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PSAs use Visual Rhetoric
Visual rhetoric is a form of communication that uses images and
message frames to convey meaning.
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6. About Message Frames
A message frame limits or defines the message meaning by shaping
how it is presented.
Message frames can be spoken, written, or visual. Visual framing
may or may not involve text.
There are endless ways to frame a PSA message, but most fit within
three types of framing:
1. negative,
2. positive, and
3. neutral.
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7. Negative Framing
A negative message frame seeks to
persuade by showing disadvantages,
risks, and bad outcomes.
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Positive Framing
A positive message frame seeks to
persuade by showing advantages,
benefits, and good outcomes.
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Neutral Framing
A neutral frame is neither negative nor positive seeks to persuade by
being informative.
This is a photo of a storm drain stencil. These stencils are put
above storm drains that flow to nearby creeks, streams, lakes, and
coastal waterways. Notice how the message is neither negative nor
positive. It simply provides the viewer with information that the storm
drain flows into a stream.
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10. Framing and Spin
Spin is a message that is framed to deceive the receiver.
It is a form of propaganda.
Spin uses exaggeration, inaccuracies, half-truths, and
excessive emotional appeals in an attempt to persuade
an audience.
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11. Historical example of spin.
Edward Bernays, known as the Father of Spin, was paid by the
American Tabaco Company to promote cigarette consumption by
women.
In 1929, Bernays staged an event that helped to overturn the
cultural taboo against women smoking in public.
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12. How the event was staged.
A woman named Bonnie Hunt notified reporters
that she and her friends were planning to
protest the taboo against women smoking in
public by lighting up cigarettes during the New
York Easter Parade. Hunt called their cigarettes
“Torches of Freedom”
The press took pictures and Hunt’s protest went
viral, changing public perceptions about women
and smoking.
But the event was a fake protest that was
staged by Hunt’s employer: Edward Bernays.
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13. Your PSA Message Frame
For this project, you will be creating a public service announcement
for a billboard or poster.
You may use a negative, positive, or neutral frame, but your PSA
should not use Spin.
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14. Creating Your PSA
Before creating your PSA you will need to:
1. Decide if you want to create a billboard or a poster.
2. Choose a PSA topic you care about.
3. Decide the client/sponsor and target audience for this PSA topic.
To make these decisions, start by thinking about what your client
does and what target audience the client would want to reach
through a PSA.
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15. Examples
Client Topic Target Audience
Playskool© Toys Toy Safety Parents
Moscow Community
Theater
Cell Phone Etiquette Theater Goers
UI Snow Mobile
Challenge
Being a Team Player Snow Mobile Teams
Once you have a client, topic, and target audience, you will need to
decide what message and how it should be framed will work best to
reach this audience.
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Your message may be serious, inspirational, or funny.
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17. Tips for Success
Be certain the message is one you can visualize with a minimum
amount of text and that your framing is not using Spin.
Decide if you can create the visual yourself or if you will need to
choose images. If using source images, do a search for free ones.
If you are using statistics, be certain they are from a valid source
and current.
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