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Larry Mutenda | What makes a good social media PSA video? A good social media PSA video opens on its idea in the first few seconds, tells one story and ends on one action. Dumb Ways to Die, Smoking Kid and Save Ralph are strong examples. Each one gives viewers a reason to keep watching and a reason to share it. |
A social media PSA video is a public service announcement made to be watched and shared in a feed. It has to earn attention before the viewer scrolls past. It usually plays with the sound off at first. It often gets passed on by people rather than pushed by paid airtime.
This list covers 13 videos. Four are short animated videos we produced for nonprofit and public-interest clients. Nine are third-party PSAs that spread online. The list moves between animation and live action, so you can compare how each format holds attention.
We picked PSA videos that were released online and spread through shares, and that have an official upload you can watch here. For each video we note what it shows, its runtime and how it opens. Where the sponsor, the agency or a major outlet has published a result, we give it. Where no result has been published, we say so.
For our own videos, we describe the communication challenge and the creative approach from the script. For PSAs made mainly for broadcast, see our list of classic public service announcements. For the formats a PSA can take, see our guide to the types of PSA videos.
A quick side-by-side before the full breakdown.
| # | Video | Sponsor or Client | Format | Runtime |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Farm plastic recycling | Dairy Farmers of Canada | 2D animation | 0:25 |
| 2 | Dave the mind reader | Febelfin | Live action | 2:28 |
| 3 | Dumb Ways to Die | Metro Trains | 2D animation | 3:02 |
| 4 | Would you stop if you saw this little girl? | UNICEF | Live action | 3:06 |
| 5 | Rose Campaign spot | YWCA | 2D animation | 0:30 |
| 6 | Love Has No Labels | Ad Council | Live action | 3:04 |
| 7 | Save Ralph | Humane Society International | Stop motion | 3:54 |
| 8 | Smoking Kid | Thai Health Promotion Foundation | Live action | 1:22 |
| 9 | BlockHate | YWCA Canada | 2D animation | 1:31 |
| 10 | Dear Daddy | CARE Norway | Live action | 5:00 |
| 11 | Talk PANTS with Pantosaurus | NSPCC | Animation | 2:01 |
| 12 | Celebrating 10 Years of This Girl Can | Sport England | Live action | 4:30 |
| 13 | How to volunteer | Makers Making Change | 2D animation | 0:56 |
Client: Dairy Farmers of Canada.
Project type: 2D animation, 25 seconds, delivered in 16:9 with a caption file.
Communication challenge: Show what some Canadian dairy farmers do to recycle farm plastic, working with Cleanfarms, in less than half a minute.
Creative approach: The video opens on a question. What steps are dairy farmers taking to recycle plastic? The answer comes back in three words. Every step they can.
The question is the hook. It names the viewer’s own doubt in the first seconds. The middle of the script shows real examples, like silage bags, bale wrap and on-farm compacting equipment that makes trips to collection sites more efficient. The close turns the answer into the message. Every step is a step closer to less plastic waste and a more sustainable future. At 25 seconds, it runs in a feed without a separate cutdown.
Dave the mind reader is a live action online safety video from Febelfin, the Belgian financial sector federation, made by the agency Duval Guillaume. It runs 2 minutes 28 seconds. The official upload is on Duval Guillaume’s YouTube channel.
The video opens like a street stunt. People are invited into a tent to have their mind read by Dave, a clairvoyant. Dave tells each person more and more about their life, including financial details. Then the video reveals the magic behind the magic. Everything Dave knew could be found online.
The mind reader is the hook. The viewer wants to know how the trick works. The answer is the message: your life is online, so be careful what you share. The official upload points viewers to tips for safer online banking.
By the numbers: Duval Guillaume reports that the film passed 10 million YouTube views and was shared more than 800,000 times. Visits to the safe online banking site rose 286%.
Dumb Ways to Die is an animated rail safety video from Metro Trains in Melbourne, made by McCann. It runs just over 3 minutes. The official upload sits on the Dumb Ways to Die YouTube channel.
The video opens with cute cartoon characters and a catchy song. Nothing about the first seconds looks like a safety message. The characters meet silly ends, one per line. The last verses turn to the dumbest ways of all: standing too close to the platform edge or crossing the tracks.
The song came first and the safety message came last. People shared a funny music video. They learned the rule on the way out.
By the numbers: Metro Trains told Mumbrella that near misses at stations fell 20% against the annual average in the two months after launch. The video had 40 million views by then.
Would you stop if you saw this little girl on the street? is a live action social experiment video from UNICEF, made with Switch Communications. It runs 3 minutes 6 seconds and supported UNICEF’s 2016 State of the World’s Children report.
The video follows Anano, a six-year-old child actor, alone in public places. First she is dressed well. Strangers stop and ask if she is okay. Then she is dressed with soot on her face and dirty clothes. Most adults ignore her, and one diner asks staff to put her back out on the street. Filming stopped because Anano became upset.
The title question is the hook. It asks viewers what they would do before they see what others did. The hidden camera makes the unfairness plain without a lecture. Anano’s own words carry the ending: “They were all telling me to go away.”
By the numbers: No result has been published that we could verify. The official UNICEF upload showed more than 4 million views when we checked in September 2026.
Client: YWCA, for its Rose Campaign.
Project type: 2D animation, 30 seconds, delivered in 16:9.
Communication challenge: Carry a campaign message about gender-based violence in a spot short enough for a social feed.
Creative approach: A single 30-second animated spot, so the whole message has to land inside one short cut.
The Rose Campaign is YWCA’s call for action on gender-based violence. A 30-second runtime is a production decision. It forces the script down to one message and one image, which is what a feed rewards. Animation also lets a hard subject appear on screen without showing a real person at their worst moment.
Love Has No Labels is a live action video from the Ad Council against bias, made by R/GA. The clip below is ABC News’s 3 minute 4 second upload.
The video opens on a large X-ray screen that shows only skeletons. Behind it, couples and families kiss and embrace. Then they step out, and the crowd sees who they are: same-sex couples, interracial couples, families of every kind.
The screen is the hook. Viewers watch the skeletons and want to see who they are. By the time the people step out, the audience has already watched them love each other. The labels come last, after the judgement has been made.
By the numbers: The One Show credits the video with 160 million combined views. It became the second most viewed PSA in history after three weeks.
Save Ralph is a stop-motion short film from Humane Society International about cosmetic testing on animals. Spencer Susser wrote and directed it. Taika Waititi voices Ralph, a rabbit used as a “tester”. The official upload runs 3 minutes 54 seconds.
The video is shot as a mock documentary. A film crew interviews Ralph as he goes through his daily routine in a lab. He is cheerful about his injuries, which makes them harder to watch.
The cute character is the hook. Viewers stay for Ralph and leave with the facts about cosmetic testing. Humane Society International released the video in five languages and subtitled it in more, so the same film could travel across feeds in many countries.
By the numbers: Save Ralph won two Webby Awards. Humane Society International credits it with helping Mexico become the first North American country to ban cosmetic testing on animals.
Smoking Kid is a live action anti-smoking video from the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, made by Ogilvy Thailand. The original version runs 1 minute 22 seconds and was released on YouTube in June 2012.
The video opens with young children walking up to adult smokers on the street and asking for a light. Every adult refuses and explains why smoking is bad for them. The child asks why the adult is smoking, then hands over a folded note and walks away. The note reads: “You worry about me. But why not worry about yourself?”
The request for a light is the hook. No viewer expects a child to ask for one. The hidden camera lets smokers give the anti-smoking lecture themselves. The film closes on the quitline number, so the one action is clear.
By the numbers: The Drum reports the video passed 5 million views within 10 days. Completed calls to the quitline rose from an average of 7,057 a month to 11,461.
Client: YWCA Canada.
Project type: 2D animated awareness video, 1:31, delivered in 16:9 with a caption file.
Communication challenge: Talk to young people about online hate on the platforms where it happens, without scaring them away from those platforms.
Creative approach: The script opens by admitting 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.
The opening line meets young viewers where they are. “Everyone is vulnerable, and you are not alone” comes before the research on who gets targeted most. The script ends on the idea that the internet can be safe and joyful. For a PSA video that lives on social media, the tone matters. It does not tell young people to log off.
Dear Daddy is a live action video from CARE Norway about violence against women, made with the agency Schjærven. The English version on CARE Norge’s YouTube channel runs 5 minutes.
The video is narrated by a daughter speaking to her father, starting before she is born. She walks through the harassment, abuse and violence she may face as she grows up. Each step starts with something small, like a joke or a name. Then she asks her father to help stop it before it begins.
The narrator is the hook. The first lines come from a voice the father has not heard yet. At five minutes it is long for a feed, yet the story builds step by step, so each moment raises the stakes for the next. The ask is simple. Share the film and never tolerate violence against women.
By the numbers: The Local reports that the Swedish version passed 5 million Facebook views before the English version was released in December 2015.
Talk PANTS is an animated child safety video from the NSPCC, fronted by Pantosaurus, a dinosaur in pants, and animated by Aardman. The official upload runs 2 minutes 1 second.
The video introduces Pantosaurus and his PANTS song. The song teaches children aged four to eight simple rules about keeping their bodies safe. It also gives parents an easy way to start the conversation.
A hard subject arrives as a song children want to sing again. The parent watches with the child, and the conversation starts on its own. The NSPCC’s own post asks families to sing along and share it with friends.
By the numbers: Third Sector reports that the video passed 1.5 million views on Facebook, YouTube and AOL within about two and a half weeks of its July 2016 launch.
Celebrating 10 Years of This Girl Can is a live action video from Sport England, released in January 2025 to mark a decade of the This Girl Can campaign. It runs 4 minutes 30 seconds on Sport England’s YouTube channel.
The video opens with quick cuts: a woman jogging on a country path, a close-up of a woman on a stationary bike, a mother in exercise clothes lifting her baby. Then it moves through a wheelchair tennis player, a boxer, a swimmer, a cyclist, a footballer and a netball player. Real women speak about getting active in their own words.
The fast opening shows the whole idea before anyone speaks. These are real women, sweaty and red-faced, exercising as they are. Viewers see people who look like them, not models.
By the numbers: Sport England reports that 2.8 million women aged 14 to 40 did some or more activity because of the campaign in its first year. More than 500,000 women joined its social media community. Those figures describe the campaign’s first year in 2015, not this 2025 anniversary film.
Client: Makers Making Change.
Project type: 2D animated volunteer recruitment video, 56 seconds, delivered in 16:9 with a caption file.
Communication challenge: Recruit volunteers to build and design low-cost assistive devices, and show the different ways to help.
Creative approach: The script opens on the problem. The cost of assistive technology is often a barrier. Then it lays out three ways in: build a device someone has requested, join a design challenge or spread the word as a chapter leader.
Each option comes with a plain next step, like browsing requests and messaging the user. The video closes on one address to visit. Under a minute, with one call to action, it fits a social post as well as a website.
A social media PSA video works when it is written for the feed from the script stage, not cut down afterwards. The videos above share five production habits. They also sit inside a wider video marketing strategy that decides where each version runs. Our guide on how to make a PSA video covers the full production process.
In a social media PSA video, the first seconds decide whether anyone watches the rest. Open on the image or line that carries the idea: the child asking for a light, the skeletons behind the screen, the question the viewer is already asking. Don’t open on a logo or a slow title card.
Feeds often autoplay video with the sound off. Burn in captions or on-screen text for every line that matters, and deliver a caption file with every version. Write the script so the message still lands if the viewer never hears the voiceover.
Choose the main framing from the placements you will actually use. Plan the other versions, such as vertical, square or horizontal, from the start. Frame shots so the action stays inside a 9:16 crop. Add short versions for different placements, and keep each one complete on its own.
Smoking Kid tells its story in 82 seconds. Dear Daddy takes five minutes. Both spread. The right length is the shortest one that still tells the whole story. Cut every shot that does not move it forward.
Call the quitline. Share the film. Check what you post about yourself. The best PSA videos end on one clear action. Some actions happen in the app, like sharing a film. Others, like calling a quitline, happen off the app, so the video has to make that next step easy to find. A vague ask like “raise awareness” gives viewers nothing to do.
The social media PSA videos that worked all opened on their idea and ended on one action. Some used a song or a cartoon. Others used a hidden camera or a narrator the viewer did not expect.
If you are planning a PSA video for social media, start with the action you want and the feed where people will see it. Then write, shoot and cut every version for that feed.
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.
What is a social media PSA video?
A social media PSA video is a public service announcement made to be watched and shared in a feed. It is usually short, opens on its idea straight away and ends on one action, such as calling a helpline or sharing the video.
How long should a social media PSA video be?
Long enough for one story and one ask. The video we made for Dairy Farmers of Canada runs 25 seconds. Dear Daddy runs five minutes and still spread, because the story builds from the first line.
Should a social media PSA video be vertical or horizontal?
Plan for both. The videos we made on this list were delivered as horizontal 16:9 films. Feeds like Reels, Stories and TikTok favour vertical 9:16. Shoot so the key action fits a vertical crop, then deliver each version from the same master.
Can an animated video work as a social media PSA?
Yes. Dumb Ways to Die, Save Ralph and Pantosaurus are all animated. Animation can handle hard subjects like online hate or child safety without showing real people at their worst moment. We have produced over 100 nonprofit videos.
How do you measure a social media PSA video?
Measure a social media PSA video by the action it asks for. Decide that action before launch, then track it. Helpline calls, sign-ups, donations and site visits show whether people acted. Views and shares show only that they watched.