Entry 49 - PSA History 5

The fifth installment shows how the PDFA was created and how certain systems were reformed to accomodate.


Changes in Network PSA Policies
Historically, the "big four" broadcast networks had always fed externally produced PSAs to their affiliates which in turn could decide to air them or pre-empt the feed by using paid commercials, locally produced PSAs or other programming. With a desire to brand their own PSAs, the networks decided to begin using characters from their own shows to deliver social messages, and thus getting externally produced PSAs on the networks or to even get them to feed them to their member stations became nearly impossible.
At the same time this was occurring, local stations were under additional pressure from community-based organizations seeking airtime and many stations created their own PSAs in an effort to meet local needs. A number of articles on our PSA Research Center provide further background on the importance of localism.
In the 1980s, a number of broadcast TV stations went public or changed hands. The resulting debt load, mounting costs, as well as increased competition from other media, resulted in demands for greater profitability. Accordingly, most unsold airtime was devoted to promoting the station or network, and at the same time, deregulation meant less government oversight in favor of a marketplace model.
At about this same time concerns were growing about the illicit drug problem. The Advertising Media Partnership for a Drug-free America (PDFA) was created by a group of media and advertising agency executives, spearheaded by Capital Cities Broadcasting Company, then completing the take-over of ABC.

Rallying unprecedented support, the organization mounted the largest public service campaign ever. Indeed, at its height, with more than $365 million a year worth of print lineage and airtime, it rivaled the largest commercial advertising campaigns.¹²
In its famous campaign often called the “Frying Egg” PSA, the visual shows an egg dropped into a pan with the voice over saying: "This is your brain." Once the egg starts frying, the voice over continues "This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?"
Perhaps one of the most memorable campaigns in PSA history, it also demonstrated that you do not need expensive props, talent, and filming in Malibu to create a powerful message. In more recent years, the PDFA has created a much broader array of PSA messages to deal with the scourge of drugs in its many forms, including marijuana, amphetamines, cocaine and others, aimed at a much wider demographic.
The other hallmark of the PDFA was its use of research before, during and after campaign launch. Consistent with contemporary thinking about the nature of social marketing, the campaign was solidly grounded in McGuire's¹³ paradigm of behavioral change:

Awareness of a problem by a number of people will result in a smaller number who undergo a change of attitude toward the problem. An even smaller number from this second group will actually change their behavior.

While this theory may seem very obvious, the anti-drunk driving PSA campaign is a good case in point that demonstrates how difficult it is to change behavior towards a social problem. In the late 1970’s the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched a national campaign to reduce drunk driving.
Grey Advertising, under contract to the government, developed the famous theme, ‘Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk,” which was the positioning line for numerous national PSA campaigns in all media.
State and local highway safety representatives were engaged in the campaign; alcohol/safety workshops to train the trainers were held; there was increased enforcement, combined with public education, yet in the early years the fatalities due to alcohol remained fairly consistent. What changed the dynamic was the advent of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and many offshoots to reach youth – Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) – which marshaled local public opinion and encouraged tougher sentences for repeat offenders.
Over time, drunk driving became a very serious crime because the social forces were all aligned against it. Also, policy makers were not trying to say that you should not drink at all…they were telling the public to drink responsibly , or if drinking is going to occur, then appoint a designated driver.
This was very smart strategy, recognizing that you are never going to get everyone in society to change their behavior, so pick the low hanging fruit and let change happen over time.
Now, some 40 years later, the deaths due to alcohol related incidents on our highways have been cut in half. This demonstrates the time it takes for a problem to sink into the public psyche to the point people will change their behavior.

An organization doing excellent work by getting into schools and operating at the community level is the Foundation for a Drug-Free World at http://www.drugfreeworld.org/home.html/. They provide free pamphlets on a wide variety of drugs to educators, municipal officials and law enforcement agencies.