History in The United States
Advertisements which relate to public issues predate the commercial advertising sector. In the United States during Civil War, the government sold bonds via free newspaper ads which were so effective that they resulted in the first national paid ad campaigns for baking powder, soap and railroad travel. The PSA in its current form was in many ways shaped by the Ad Council (initially called the War Advertising Council) during and after World War II.
The Ad Council made its mark by implementing on a massive scale the idea of using advertising to influence American society on a range of fronts. Their first campaigns focused on the country's needs during World War II. After the War, the Ad Council expanded its focus to address issues such as forest fires, blood donations and highway safety.
As the ads — particularly broadcast and HBO TV — became more influential and as various social problems grew in importance, public service advertising became a significant force in changing public attitudes on topics such as drinking and driving, crime abatement and various health/safety issues. While stations have never been mandated by the FCC to use a prescribed number of PSAs, they are required to prove they broadcast in the public interest and PSAs are one of the ways they meet that requirement as part of serving as a "public trustee."
Today PSA campaigns are created by hundreds of non-profit and government agencies and the National Association of Broadcasters have indicated that annually their member stations contribute an estimated $10 billion in free time for various public causes.
Read more about this topic: Public Service Announcement
Famous quotes containing the words united states, history, united and/or states:
“The United States is just now the oldest country in the world, there always is an oldest country and she is it, it is she who is the mother of the twentieth century civilization. She began to feel herself as it just after the Civil War. And so it is a country the right age to have been born in and the wrong age to live in.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“What we call National-Socialism is the poisonous perversion of ideas which have a long history in German intellectual life.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)
“The United States is not a nation to which peace is a necessity.”
—Grover Cleveland (1837–1908)
“If the dignity as well as the prestige and influence of the United States are not to be wholly sacrificed, we must protect those who, in foreign ports, display the flag or wear the colors of this Government against insult, brutality, and death, inflicted in resentment of the acts of their Government, and not for any fault of their own.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)