Public Service Announcements (PSA)

Today, we have renewed the subject of making commercials, this time we are doing something really similar, PSA'S or Public Service Announcement. It comes to my understanding that a PSA is a longer version of a commercial but with a subject directed at an audience not to promote a product but to teach or show. In this case, you don't actually promote a product, organization or anything, you are simply stating like a problem(drinking, smoking, obesity). It is similar to a commercial in the sense that it is usually broadcast or transmitted between a show or program and it is short. A PSA is usually longer, and it usually consists of making the people aware of a very serious problem or issue, and with it the goal is to make people conscious about an issue not buy something. I expect this activity to be a very fun activity to do and I hope I can actually make the people more aware of something bad and not just joke around.

Since this activity has to be done in groups I have seriously considered with who I should work with. First of all, I would like to work with Taku, because I think working with him should be very interesting. I also think that Taku can have some very interesting ideas of how to execute the PSA as well as making it appealing towards the audience. Basically, Taku will make the PSA an interesting and appealing project that has a chance of teaching the people a lesson. Second, the next candidate is Raul. I think that Raul can be the star in the PSA, since I lack of any acting skill whatsoever. Also, Raul lives very near to my house and so we can have more time to input more quality and hopefully make the PSA better. So, Raul would be a great partner because he can work for a prolonged amount of time and he can make the PSA quite good. Finally, my final candidate is Sebastian. I know Sebastian can work great in a PSA if he knows that his grade is dependent upon it, and so he really would need to work. Also, the main thing is that Sebastian is really funny and can make a funny PSA, perhaps I would interfere in his funniness, so that it actually teaches something.

Potential PSA'S:
1. Obesity.
2. Drinking.
3. Driving under the influence of alcohol.
4. Addiction to drugs.
5. Compulsive Eating
6. Smoking.
7. Bullying.

Basically, the most appealing PSA's are Obesity, Drinking and Bullying. First of all, Obesity is a serious issue in Mexico, we are one of the fattest countries in the world. I think that Obesity specifically should be dealt with a serious approach, because Obesity is so serious that making a funny PSA will probably hurt someone's feelings. I think that we should use facts of Obesity, concrete information and some predictions like for the year 2015 Mexico's population is expected to be this obese and so...Second, Drinking is a serious issue better tackled with a very funny approach. I personally think that if drinking ads don't work if serious, perhaps a funny drinking commercial should work just fine. My idea is to put a car with a drunk driver and drunk passengers as well, only for luck they don't get hurt and we can say... this is just fiction, but in real life most car crashes end with a tragedy, last year itself more than.....amount of people died. Finally, I would make the Bullying commercial a very serious one. It would be about a tall boy hitting a small one and the small one going to his house and crying. The add will then have a segment in which the public speaker tells the facts about bullying in Mexico and so...

Super Bowl and Classmates Commercials

This last Sunday, one of the biggest events of the year happened, the Superbowl, and with it a barrage of various ads. My third favorite commercial is the Captain America movie trailer. This ad in my opinion was one of the best ads, because it is quick, concise and I simply love a good comic movie brought to life. Also, my second favorite Superbowl commercial was the Volkswagen Darth Vader commercial. In my opinion, this is the second best ad for simply being funny, it is cool, I love Star Wars and the force use happened to make a great joke, this commercial was simply executed perfectly. My favorite commercial was the Eminem Chrysler Commercial. This Commercial is my favorite commercial because one ad with no relation to video games or Star Wars has ever captured my attention like this. This video shows you a bold message which is delivered straightforward in to minutes. Finally, many companies waste their money even on a 30' second or a minute ad, this video does so much with two minutes, it is simply jaw dropping.

Simply Jaw-Dropping

Needless to say, not all the Superbowl commercials were good, one specifically which I disliked was the Hyundai Elantra commercial. In my opinion, having an incredibly drugged up video like this just doesn't relate to the car. I have to say, Jeff Bridge's voice over was cool, but I just can't imagine him as a shrink, it doesn't fit. Also, when you realize that the Elantra is a compact car, you kind of loose interest..no I was just joking, it is only that the video is too funky. Then, there is the time factor involved, one minute is way too long at least for the content, they should've made the ad a lot shorter, more like 30 seconds. Also, one big detail that this ad misses at delivering at was at promoting a car, you have to much going on on the screen. So, If I made a car ad which isn't delivering a deep message such as the Eminem ad, I would just make it about the car, nothing else. Finally, I would make a 30 second ad, showing the car, its features and just convincing the potential buyer, not freaking him out.

With the Super Bowl on mind as well as the super budgets for a minute or 30 second ad, experimented by doing our own commercials promoting a product. The project turned out to be quite fruitful because we could see the commercials with another point of view, 86 k for second is a lot of money and on some commercials like the Elantra, it was just thrown to the trash. One ad that stood out in my opinion was Taku's Pringle's commercial. What really interested me from this ad was how a commercial can deliver the message "eat Pringles" without saying a single word. This commercial is short and sweet, it is funny and it involves the product that it is promoting. Sometimes, we loose the goal of a commercial which is (for a product) to buy that product because the ad has convinced us to buy it. The music is really cool and the pace is fast, and it is just fun to see what you can do with three crushed down chips. Finally, I praise Taku's commercial because he didn't need a single word to be spoken to say "eat Pringles" and actually make me hungry, congrats to you Taku.

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