Posted: May 5th, 2015

English 12

English 12
Lesson 12 Assignment

SECTION ONE
Analyzing a PSA (30% of your mark)
Analyze one of Canada’s most well-known PSA campaigns.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD Canada) is a non-profit, grassroots organization that is committed to stopping impaired driving and supporting the victims of this violent crime. At the heart of MADD Canada are volunteers who include not only mothers, but fathers, friends, business professionals, experts in the anti-impaired driving field and concerned citizens who want to make a difference in the fight against impaired driving. http://www.madd.ca/home.html

Spend some time on either link below, previewing some MADD video campaigns. If you have trouble with the link, look up MADD campaigns on YouTube. http://www.madd.ca/english/research/media.html http://www.madd.ca/madd2/en/services/awareness_campaigns_psa.html

After viewing various campaigns, answer the following questions:

1.    The PSA of MADD targeted one ethnic (cultural) group in particular in its campaigns called “Honoring Our Spirit”.  Why did they do this and what did they do to increase their success with this group?  Do you support this campaign or find it inappropriate in any way. Explain.

2.    Summarize 3 of the videos and impartially analyze how effective you think each is.  In a fourth paragraph, elaborate on one that impacted you the most, offering support for your position.

3.    If a PSA campaign leader sought your advice about a creating one targeted at you and your peer group (your generation, and within your sub-culture), what would you stress to be the most important and effective ways to connect with or influence your peer culture (media, issues, strategies, tools, methods, etc)?

4.    Consider a PSA that has affected you at some point in your life. Reflect on what the issue was, why it struck you, how it was presented and through what forms of media. Or else, consider a PSA that did not strike you, and think on what could have made the campaign more effective.

5.    What do you believe are three most pressing issues/concerns facing young people today? Offer support for your choices, indicating where you encounter evidence of this, and how you see young people being affected.

English 12
Lesson 12 Assignment

SECTION TWO
Creating a Media Message
PART 1 – Planning a PSA Outline (40% of your mark)

Based on your reading of Lesson 12, and with specific reference to the documents Elements of a Successful PSA Campaign  and Middlesex-London Health Unit Binge Drinking Campaign: Case Study, plan your own PSA campaign, and answer the following questions to help you sort out your position/profile on the topic.

Planning your PSA advertisement

1.    What type of message do you want to send?  Be concrete – clear and specific. What are the goals and objectives of this campaign?  Give some sense of your passion or concerns be referring to evidence of this being a problem in your estimation.

2.    Who is your target audience (be sure to narrow down a specific demographic)? Profile your target group, referring to several specific traits/aspects that identify them?

3.    What are the kinds of information will you need from your “focus group” to create an effective campaign?  Remember, your focus group is your testing field, so you can poll them any way you desire to narrow down the focus of your pitch.

4.    List some specific questions you’ll be asking and having your focus group respond to. Give some sense for the merits of your questions (i.e. why these specific questions).

5.    After you conducted some field investigation with your target group, did you encounter any surprises?  Did anything you learned affect your choice of Ad campaign? Give some explanation.

6.    Which of the following approaches did you select for your message, and why?
Positive Consequences – emphasizing positive consequences to be achieved
Resistance Strategies – emphasizing different ways that teens can resist pressure
Negative Strategy – emphasizing specific negative consequences

7.    What type of advertisement will you be creating (radio script, TV spot, print, Web-based, collage, power point)? Why this medium? What are some of the challenges or limits; what are some of the benefits?

8.    What will be the best scenario for getting your message across? (Are there any characters? If so, how many? Do you tell a story? A biographical profile? A focus on facts and figures?)

9.    What impression do you want to leave your audience with?

10.    What can you do to make your PSA ad unique from other advertisements?

PART 2 – Present your PSA   (30% of your mark)

Once you have worked through developing the important background of your campaign, you are ready to create your PSA, either through a collage, a power point (for print ads), a script (for radio/TV ads) or any other medium you’re comfortable with!

HAND IN the two SECTIONS of your assignment together. If your PSA (Section 2, Part 2) is too large for the upload box, make a note IN your assignment that you will send it to me as an email attachment instead.