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Larry Mutenda | What is a good example of a public service announcement? A public service announcement (PSA) is a short message made to change public behaviour, not to sell a product. Strong examples include Vince and Larry for seat belts, Signal for Help for domestic violence and Embrace Life for road safety. The PSAs that work ask for one specific action, use a messenger the audience trusts and give a reason to act in the first few seconds. |
A PSA promotes something in the public interest, such as wearing a seat belt, spotting a scam or checking in on a friend. Governments, nonprofits and public health agencies make most of them.
This list covers 26 PSAs from the United States, Canada and Europe. It moves between animation and live action, so you can compare how each format handles a hard message. Every entry has the video, the sponsor and, where one exists, a measured result.
We picked PSAs with a clear sponsor, a video you can watch here and, where possible, a measured result from the sponsor or from published research. Where a result is disputed or missing, we say so.
Seven of the examples are animated PSAs we produced. For those, we describe the communication challenge and the creative approach behind the script.
A quick side-by-side before the full breakdown.
| # | PSA | Sponsor | Issue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IRS scam warning | Accounting Aid Society | Fraud prevention |
| 2 | Vince and Larry | NHTSA / Ad Council | Seat belts |
| 3 | Signal for Help | Canadian Women’s Foundation | Domestic violence |
| 4 | Embrace Life | Sussex Safer Roads Partnership | Seat belts |
| 5 | BlockHate | YWCA Canada | Online hate |
| 6 | Tips From Former Smokers | CDC | Smoking |
| 7 | Bell Let’s Talk | Bell Canada | Mental health |
| 8 | Most Shocking Second a Day | Save the Children UK | Children in conflict |
| 9 | MMR vaccine | HSC Public Health Agency | Vaccination |
| 10 | Buzzed Driving Is Drunk Driving | NHTSA / Ad Council | Drunk driving |
| 11 | Consider the Consequences of Vaping | Health Canada | Youth vaping |
| 12 | Dear Future Mom | CoorDown | Disability inclusion |
| 13 | Prescription costs | Disability Rights Oregon | Health policy |
| 14 | Click It or Ticket | NHTSA | Seat belts |
| 15 | Your Man Reminder | Rethink Breast Cancer | Breast health |
| 16 | Hard and Fast | British Heart Foundation | CPR |
| 17 | Stand Informed | CLAS BC | Legal help for survivors |
| 18 | Evan | Sandy Hook Promise | Gun violence |
| 19 | SickKids VS: Undeniable | SickKids Foundation | Children’s health |
| 20 | Assume That I Can | CoorDown | Disability inclusion |
| 21 | BC Unclaimed | BC Unclaimed | Unclaimed money |
| 22 | Seize the Awkward | Ad Council / AFSP / JED | Mental health |
| 23 | Feel Out Loud | Kids Help Phone | Youth mental health |
| 24 | Missing Type | NHS Blood and Transplant | Blood donation |
| 25 | Workplace accessibility | Small Business BC | Accessibility |
| 26 | Anything But Sorry | Canadian Down Syndrome Society | Disability inclusion |
Client: Accounting Aid Society, a nonprofit tax clinic.
Project type: 2D character animation, 1:32.
Communication challenge: Warn people about fake IRS messages and tell them what the IRS really does.
Creative approach: Todd gets a text claiming to be from the IRS. His cousin Ruby got one last year, so the warning arrives as a family conversation.
The script gives one clear rule. The IRS will never contact you by text, email, social media or phone. It only contacts you by mail. If a letter comes, read it carefully and respond. The video ends with where to get free help.
Vince and Larry is a seat belt campaign from the US Department of Transportation, NHTSA and the Ad Council. Leo Burnett in Chicago made the spots.
Two crash test dummies show what happens to people who skip the seat belt. Viewers laugh at the dummies. Then they realize the dummies are them.
By the numbers: Seat belt use rose from 14% to 79% after the campaign began. The Advertising Educational Foundation credits it with about 85,000 lives saved. The spots also won an Addy, a Cannes Bronze Lion and two Clios.
Signal for Help is a one-handed gesture from the Canadian Women’s Foundation that lets someone ask for a check-in without leaving a digital trace. Palm out, thumb tucked, fingers folded over the thumb.
The video below is a later spot that teaches people how to respond when they see the signal. It gives the viewer a tool, not just a warning.
By the numbers: The Canadian Women’s Foundation reports that 40% of Canadians know about the Signal for Help. The campaign won the Grand Prix at the 2022 Care Awards.
Embrace Life is a seat belt film from the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership in the UK, directed by Daniel Cox. There is no dialogue.
A father’s wife and daughter become his seat belt as a crash is implied. The film avoids shock tactics on purpose. The family is the reason to buckle up.
By the numbers: More than 20 million online views. It won a Bronze Lion at Cannes and YouTube Ad of the Year.
Client: YWCA Canada.
Project type: 2D animated awareness video, 1:31.
Communication challenge: Explain online hate to young people without scaring off the audience the project is trying to protect.
Creative approach: The script admits digital life is exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time. Then it names the harms plainly: sharing intimate or fake images without consent, stealing personal information and harassment.
“Everyone is vulnerable, and you are not alone” comes before the research on who gets targeted most.
Tips From Former Smokers is the CDC’s national tobacco education campaign, and the first one funded by the US federal government. Real former smokers show what smoking-related disease did to their lives. The ad below features Terrie.
Real people make the harm specific. A statistic tells you smoking is dangerous. A former smoker shows you what that looks like on an ordinary day.
By the numbers: The CDC reports that from 2012 to 2018, more than 16.4 million people tried to quit and about 1 million quit for good because of the campaign.
Bell Let’s Talk is Bell Canada’s mental health campaign. On Bell Let’s Talk Day, Bell donates 5 cents for every eligible message or call. In this spot, Olympian Clara Hughes talks about her own mental illness.
A well-known athlete talking about her own struggle makes the subject easier to raise. The donation mechanic gives viewers something to do right away.
By the numbers: Bell Let’s Talk Day 2015 drew 122,150,772 messages and calls, which brought Bell’s donation to $6,107,538.60.
Most Shocking Second a Day is a Save the Children UK film that shows one second a day for a year of a London girl’s life, as a war like Syria’s reaches Britain.
It moves a distant conflict into the viewer’s own city. The viewer can’t file it away as someone else’s problem.
By the numbers: More than 52 million YouTube views within a year and a Gold Cyber Lion at Cannes.
Client: HSC Public Health Agency, Northern Ireland.
Project type: 2D animated public health video, 1:44.
Communication challenge: Explain why the MMR vaccine matters during measles outbreaks in Europe, and answer the safety question parents ask.
Creative approach: The script opens on the question parents ask: why is the MMR vaccine important for you and your family? It then describes measles plainly and notes outbreaks in countries across Europe, including the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
It tells families when the free doses are offered in Northern Ireland: at 12 months and at three years and four months. It answers the safety question with a number. More than 500 million doses have been given in over 100 countries in the last 40 years. It covers side effects honestly, then closes on one ask: protect yourself and your family.
You can see more of our health work on our healthcare video production page.
Buzzed Driving Is Drunk Driving is an NHTSA and Ad Council campaign that Mullen made pro bono. It targeted men aged 21 to 34 who thought “buzzed” still meant fine to drive. The spot below is one of the campaign’s later ads.
The whole campaign is a redefinition in five words. It doesn’t argue. It moves the line.
By the numbers: By January 2007, 41% of the target group recalled the campaign. 17% said they had decided not to drive after drinking.
Consider the Consequences of Vaping is Health Canada’s youth vaping campaign. It combined paid video, social media, influencers and a school tour to talk to teens about nicotine addiction and the health risks of vaping.
It met teens where they already were. The video was one part of a larger plan, not the whole plan.
By the numbers: 26% of teens who saw the ads decided not to vape because of them. The school tour reached more than 128,000 teens.
Dear Future Mom is a CoorDown film in which fifteen people with Down syndrome from across Europe answer a pregnant woman who is afraid for her baby. Saatchi & Saatchi Italy made it for World Down Syndrome Day.
The people most affected speak for themselves, in several languages. No narrator stands between them and the viewer.
By the numbers: More than 2.3 million views in a single week. It won the ADCI Grand Prix and six Cannes Lions, including two Golds.
Client: Disability Rights Oregon.
Project type: 2D animated advocacy video, 1:04.
Communication challenge: Explain an insurance change most patients don’t know about, then make one policy ask.
Creative approach: Some insurers stopped counting drug-maker financial assistance toward out-of-pocket costs. Patients often find out mid-year, when they are suddenly on the hook for thousands of dollars in refills.
The script explains the mechanism in plain words. One line of moral framing follows: nobody should have to choose between life-saving medication and putting food on the table. Then the policy ask.
Click It or Ticket is an NHTSA seat belt program that pairs paid TV and radio with police enforcement. It began in North Carolina and later went national. The spot below is a state version from Massachusetts.
Most PSAs persuade. This one warns. The message is only as strong as the consequence behind it.
By the numbers: National observed belt use rose from 75% in 2002 to 79% in 2003.
Your Man Reminder is a Rethink Breast Cancer video for an app in which attractive men remind women to do breast self-checks. The Toronto agency John St. made it pro bono.
Humour and a phone reminder turn a health habit people forget into something they look forward to.
By the numbers: 2 million YouTube views and 70,000 app downloads, as reported by ABC News.
Hard and Fast is a British Heart Foundation campaign in which former footballer Vinnie Jones shows hands-only CPR to the beat of “Stayin’ Alive.” Grey London made it.
Humour makes a frightening skill feel doable. The song gives people the rhythm to remember.
By the numbers: The Drum reported 28 lives saved by people who followed the ad.
Client: CLAS BC, for its Stand Informed service.
Project type: Animated awareness video, 1:36.
Communication challenge: Tell people who have experienced sexual assault in BC that free legal advice exists, and remove the reasons they might not call.
Creative approach: The script leads with what is not required: no gender, age, race or immigration status requirements, and no police report.
“What happened is not your fault” sits near the top. Then the script walks through the process step by step. With a subject this hard, predictability is what a script can offer.
Evan is a Sandy Hook Promise film about the warning signs of gun violence, made by BBDO New York. You follow a high school romance. In the background, a classmate shows warning signs, and you miss every one.
The final line asks, “Did you see the signs?” The twist makes the viewer part of the problem. That is exactly the point.
By the numbers: More than 100 million views within eight days of its premiere. It also won Effie Gold and Silver.
Undeniable is a SickKids Foundation film that recasts sick kids and their families as fighters, not victims. Cossette made it to launch the SickKids VS platform. It is a fundraising campaign more than a classic PSA.
The tone flips pity into strength. Donors are invited to join a fight, not to feel sorry.
By the numbers: $57.9 million in donations, a SickKids record. Online donation revenue rose 695%, and the film passed 8 million views.
Assume That I Can is a CoorDown film in which Madison Tevlin, an actress with Down syndrome, shows how low expectations can come true. SMALL in New York made it for World Down Syndrome Day.
She talks straight to the camera and asks you to assume she can. That makes it very hard to look away.
By the numbers: More than 150 million views in one week and seven Cannes Lions.
Client: BC Unclaimed.
Project type: Motion graphics video, 1:11.
Communication challenge: Explain what unclaimed money and property are, and get people to search for money they may be owed.
Creative approach: There are no characters and no story. The one action the viewer needs to take is a database search, so that is what the video shows.
Seize the Awkward is a mental health campaign from the Ad Council, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and The Jed Foundation, made by Droga5. Aimed at people aged 16 to 24, it treats an awkward silence between friends as the moment to check in.
It is a good model for a sensitive subject. The action is small and specific, and there is no clinical language.
By the numbers: 7.5 million video views and more than 87,000 website sessions by September 2018.
Feel Out Loud is a Kids Help Phone campaign, made by McCann Canada, that shows adults the gap between young people saying they are “fine” and what they are actually going through. It anchored a $300 million fundraising drive.
One familiar word carries the whole idea. Every parent has heard “fine” and believed it.
By the numbers: No campaign result has been published that we could verify.
Missing Type is an NHS Blood and Transplant campaign, made by Engine, in which the letters A, O and B, the main blood groups, disappeared from famous brands, street signs and landmarks. The video below covers the international edition, when the idea spread to other countries.
The absence is the message. People notice what’s missing faster than what’s there.
By the numbers: 30,620 new donor registrations during the 2015 campaign, 20,000 more than the year before.
Client: Small Business BC.
Project type: Animated awareness video, 3:18.
Communication challenge: Define workplace accessibility for employers who may not have thought about barriers.
Creative approach: It opens with a question: what do you think accessibility means? Then it defines barriers with everyday examples, like a cafe you can’t get into or a document with type too small to read.
Over 20% of British Columbians identify as having a disability. The script puts that number early, so the viewer sees the scale before the definitions.
Anything But Sorry is a Canadian Down Syndrome Society video, made pro bono by FCB Canada, in which young people with Down syndrome cheerfully swear their way through the message. The point is that “sorry” is the only wrong word to say when a baby with Down syndrome is born.
Surprise gets attention. Then the message lands with warmth instead of guilt.
By the numbers: No campaign result has been published that we could verify.
The PSAs on this list with real results share five patterns.
Buckle up. Don’t drive buzzed. Give blood. The strongest PSAs ask for one thing the viewer can do today. A PSA that asks people to “be aware” gives them nothing to do.
Real former smokers in Tips. Clara Hughes for Bell Let’s Talk. People with Down syndrome speaking for themselves in Dear Future Mom and Assume That I Can.
Crash test dummies. Letters missing from street signs. A gesture you can make on a video call. One strong visual device does more work than a paragraph of statistics.
Evan and Seize the Awkward talk to the friend or bystander, not only the person at risk. Often the bystander is the one who can act.
Some well-known PSAs have no published result. The ones with numbers, like Tips From Former Smokers and Missing Type, set up the measurement from the start.
Vince and Larry, the crash test dummies from the US seat belt campaign, is a classic example. Signal for Help and Embrace Life are well-known newer ones. Each asks viewers to take one specific action.
An effective PSA asks for one specific action, uses a messenger the audience trusts and measures a result, such as belt use, quit attempts or donor sign-ups.
An ad sells a product or service. A PSA promotes behaviour in the public interest, such as safety, health or inclusion. PSAs are usually made by governments, nonprofits and public health agencies.
Yes. Seven PSAs on this page are animated, including the MMR vaccine video we produced for Northern Ireland’s Public Health Agency. Animation suits hard subjects like online hate, scams or illness, because it can show the problem without showing real people at their worst moment.
A PSA should be long enough for one ask. Several of the spots above are 30-second broadcast cuts. The animated PSAs we produced run from about a minute for a single policy ask to just over three minutes for Small Business BC’s accessibility video, which explains a whole topic.
The strongest PSAs from the US, Canada and Europe follow the same logic. Each one starts with a single audience and a single action, then chooses the messenger and format that make that action easy to take.
If you are planning a PSA, start with the one thing you want viewers to do. Then choose the format, animation or live action, that shows it most clearly.
Larry is the Founder and Producer at Mammothic Films, with more than 15 years of production experience. He leads a team that creates story-driven videos for businesses and brands. A marketer, designer, and animator, Larry has overseen the production of more than 1,500 videos for Fujitsu, Logitech, Warner Brothers, NFL, Blockdaemon, Astronomer, Canonical, and 370+ other companies in Canada, the United States, and around the world.
Larry is a devout Christian who believes in placing God first, and that everything else is a blessing that comes from serving Him. When he’s not working, he’s hanging out with his wife and three kids, playing the piano, or sightseeing.