http://www.vimeo.com/17277603
PSA Memo:
TO: University of Texas at El Paso, English 1311 Students
FROM: Ameriah L. Sanchez, English 1311 Student
DATE: November 30, 2010
SUBJECT: Analysis of Public Service Announcement
Ethos
The appeal of ethos in my commercial was shown through the credibility of the sources. Throughout the semester I have conducted research on Anorexia Nervosa and other eating disorders. By becoming knowledgeable in this specific topic, it allowed me to present valuable information in my public service announcement. Although, I am not an expert at my topic, I have enough knowledge to share information to an audience. My public service announcement is also credible, in that, the pictures and statistics are cited. The statistics come from various eating disorder foundations and websites. This makes the facts credible because they come from experts who deal with this issue on a daily basis. The pictures are also cited and coincide with the topic. This gives me credibility because the PSA makes sense and is not off topic.
Pathos
Pathos is presented through the emotion of my public service announcement. I chose a song by a band called Superchick. Their song Courage went with the PSA because it dealt with anorexia and a young girl. This song is slow and has a melancholy beat to it. The lyrics help get the message across to the audience by a young girl singing her struggles of anorexia. I chose this song because I wanted the music to coincide with my pictures and statistics. Throughout the PSA there are pictures of young girls looking depressed, showing a negative body image, and showing the affects of anorexia. The young girls faces are full of sadness and distress, which makes the audience feel a sense of sadness or sympathy. The statistics presented in the PSA are informative and bring attention to the audience. They are not meant to shock the audience, but rather present credible information. Since these statistics are true, this gives the audience an emotion of sadness. I thought it would be effective to present the information through a sad emotion since many young women have been losing their lives to this illness. If the PSA was made humorous or sarcastic it would not be as effective.
Logos
When creating my public service announcement I wanted it to make sense for the audience. I used pictures of young girls being afraid to gain weight because most people know a young girl and would be able to relate to this. I wanted statistics to follow the pictures so that the audience would know that this does happen in real life. The statistics were presented on a black screen with white letters. I wanted them to be shown this way because it is a serious and sad matter. The white letters were easy to read on the black screen and were big enough for the audience to read. I did not put pictures on the statistics screen because I did not want to create a distraction to the information. I also did not put words on picture screens because it would be hard to read and understand. I saved the most effective picture of the anorexic women because I wanted it to draw the attention of the audience. Following this picture I included a phrase stating “DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOUR LOVED ONE”. I put the “DONT” in red to show that this can be prevented and is a serious illness. The following screen showed contact information for an eating disorder foundation called “The Renfrew Center”. I put this at the end of the PSA to show the audience there is something that we can do to help others struggling with this illness.
