Custom «Public Service Advertisement» Essay Paper Sample

Article analysis is a significant process that enables the comprehension of various segments of the article and their intention. This essay analyzes a 1970’s PSA commercial hyperlink titled Keep American Beautiful (Crying Indian).

The commercial begins by showing an Indian in a boat in water. Nearby there are several factory chimneys emitting smoke into the air. The Indian sees pieces of paper as he rows the boat towards the shore. As the Indian walks from the boat, he also sees plenty of cans and bottles thrown at the shore. As if this is not enough, the Indian observes motorists pulling down the car windows and throwing litter on the streets. A pile of litter is thrown at the Indian’s feet and he looks on with a saddened look. The voice-over in the commercial states that as much as some people have a deep abiding respect to the natural beauty of the environment, others don’t. It also explains that it is people who begin the pollution and they can end it. At this point, the face of the Indian is brought at a closer view and the audience can see that he shed a tear. The commercial ends by the audience being urged to mail their views on things that can be done to end the pollution.

The 70’s Public Service Advertisement (PSA) Keep American Beautiful is an advertisement campaign that was widely used in the late 20^th century, from 1971. The purpose of the PSA is to create awareness on environmental protection. The key messages aired in the advertisement are: - avoid littering, reduce or recycle wastes, and involvement of the community in beautification, or maintaining a green environment. The key element in the advertisement is the image of a crying Indian, saddened by the pollution.

The PSA campaign targets an audience that inhabits the environment and has the responsibility of taking care of it. The audience is made to know that keeping the environment green is their responsibility. The advertiser expects that the audience will come to terms with the necessity of ending pollution. The author succeeds in passing the message to many of the target audience. This is achieved through the format of the advertisement as a media article, hence can be aired through television or the social media such as YouTube. Social Media is the 21^st advent that enables communication of information to reach millions of target audience in a short duration of time.

The campaign uses emotional, logical, and ethical elements in passing the message across. The crying Indian represents the emotional aspect. By looking at how sad he is at the dirty environment, the audience is expected to share in his pain and thus stop the pollution. The feature of the motorist who throws the litter on the pavement is meant to help the audience identify with the habit, and realize that it is a mistake. The logical aspect is represented by factors that are known to cause environmental pollution. These include the smoke from chimneys, and used food packages. On the ethical aspect, the commercial strongly points out on the negativity of not abiding to environmental laws. Making the environment dirty is an issue of morality. Some people have the morals to keep the environment beautiful while others do not.

The author succeeds in passing the message across to the audience especially on showing that throwing litter on the environment makes it dirty and inconsiderate of other people. The crying Indian imagery has also brought about the sensation that humans should be attached to the environment. However, in my opinion, the imagery should have been used in a more active manner. For instance, the Indian should have participated in some activity that shows how pollution can be prevented or avoided.

All in all, the article is a good piece as far as creating awareness is concerned. The article is educative and enlightens viewers that things done on a normal basis such as throwing away litter may not be of moral standards.