Advertising (reruns) in the public interest

February 6, 2022 11:23 AM

"What if America wasn't America?" That was the question posed by a series of ads broadcast in the wake of the September 11th attacks, ads which depicted a dystopian America bereft of liberty: Library - Diner - Church - Arrest. Together with more positive ads like It All Starts with Freedom, Remember Freedom, and I Am an American, they encouraged frightened viewers to cherish their liberties and defend against division and prejudice in the face of terrorism [20 years previously]. The campaign was the work of the Ad Council, a non-profit agency that employs the creative muscle of volunteer advertisers to raise awareness for social issues of national importance. Founded during WWII as the War Advertising Council, the organization has been behind some of the most memorable public service campaigns in American history, including Rosie the Riveter, Smokey Bear, McGruff the Crime Dog, and the Crash Test Dummies. And the Council is still at it today, producing striking, funny, and above all effective PSAs on everything from student invention to global warming to arts education to John Cena reminding us that loving America means loving all Americans, dammit [previously].

Additional resources: A-to-Z index of Ad Council campaigns - A free download directory of TV, radio, and print PSAs (registration req'd) - An exhaustive history of the Ad Council [46-page PDF] - YouTube channel - Twitter feed [PSA: This post part of #DoublesJubilee month -- revamp your favorite posts today!]

posted by Rhaomi (19 comments total)

[Original post]
posted by Rhaomi at 11:26 AM on February 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, I've wondered where the Ad Council was on producing public-service content around staying safe, wearing masks, etc. I figured they were, for some bizarre reason, just not producing content on the matter.

Looking at the YouTube channel, it looks like they are, they're just not particularly memorable, compelling or influential (read: "good").
posted by neuracnu at 11:35 AM on February 6, 2022 [5 favorites]

I, too, wondered where the Ad Council was on PSAs regarding Covid-19. Or even such efforts like "The more you know." Somehow this Pandemic has not inspired the best and brightest to create messaging that would bring us together in our efforts. It's a shame, things could have gone so differently with some inspired ads. Instead, the space was filled with misinformation, disinformation, and political posturing.
posted by drossdragon at 12:01 PM on February 6, 2022 [6 favorites]

Kid in that Library ad should never have tried to check out Maus from a Tennessee school library I guess.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:19 PM on February 6, 2022 [9 favorites]

It's difficult to address COVID-19 without addressing the absence of working public institutions or social solidarity, both being defining features of the American cultural model of individual freedom.
posted by moorooka at 1:03 PM on February 6, 2022 [3 favorites]

I just watched the first episode of Peacemaker which surprised me by being a lot better than I expected it to be. And darn it if that John Cena ad didn't just make me cry a little.

After seeing all this divisiveness in the news day after day, notching up higher and higher; after being legitimately nervous about rising political violence and fading social cohesion, the threats to democracy and potential for a new civil war — it really hits a chord to see someone who is clearly a prototypical Red Blooded American Male^tm stand up and stand for diversity, equality, and inclusiveness, not just for Liberal Points but to try to bring everyone in under the tent.

Maybe it's cheap, I can't say. But it's certainly moving to me. And Cena's (and James Gunn's) show really embodies that inclusiveness — giving voice, not just face time, to multiple points of view — even as it's full of sloppy laughs and fun.
posted by heyitsgogi at 1:45 PM on February 6, 2022 [6 favorites]

Somehow this Pandemic has not inspired the best and brightest to create messaging that would bring us together in our efforts.

Call me crazy, but perhaps it's because the best and brightest are coping with shakey job situations and health concerns of their own, just like the rest of us?.....
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:58 PM on February 6, 2022 [6 favorites]

"What if America wasn't America?"

"Let me ask you this: are you sure that it is?"
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:18 PM on February 6, 2022 [13 favorites]

Bush said "they hate our freedoms" and bin Laden is supposed to have replied "if I hated freedom, I would have attacked Sweden".
posted by jamjam at 3:10 PM on February 6, 2022 [8 favorites]

Seeing the "Library" one in particular reminds me that, for all of the high-minded rhetoric about freedom, the Patriot Act not only allowed law enforcement agencies to obtain circulation records of library patrons, but also forbade librarians to inform the public that the request had even been made--which, fortunately, had been fought and worked around by various librarians, some of whom you may be acquainted with.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:09 PM on February 6, 2022 [9 favorites]

The same paranoia depicted in some of these "what if" America ads was present in the real America I was living in at the time.

Spook agencies and the FBI were getting everything on their Christmas list. There was a real sense of being monitored and maybe not saying the wrong thing in public too loudly.
posted by adamrice at 5:20 PM on February 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, I've wondered where the Ad Council was on producing public-service content around staying safe, wearing masks, etc. I figured they were, for some bizarre reason, just not producing content on the matter.

I asked my partner about this (she has worked in advertising for a couple decades now) and she suspects it's due to the constant moving target that is the CDC's recommendations. It takes at least 6 months to create a decent marketing strategy/campaign that covers multiple markets and channels (though, she says social media campaigns can be pushed out faster). It's possible the Ad Council is hesitant to develop a comprehensive messaging strategy on the level of Smokey Bear that might be undermined by increased/decreased guidelines by the time it launches.
posted by johnxlibris at 9:41 PM on February 6, 2022 [3 favorites]

Holy cow, nothing from Rhaomi for four months and now one every day in February... this is amazing and also is going to kill me because I'm still on this one.

Seriously: So, so glad you're back. Your posts show what this place can be.
posted by martin q blank at 7:54 AM on February 7, 2022 [3 favorites]

Oh, so these are what life in America will be like once the Republicans regain power in the near future?
posted by Oh_Bobloblaw at 8:15 AM on February 7, 2022

Hoo-boy, those first four ads are completely infuriating. The "Library" one is exactly where we are currently, and the rest prey on conservative fears -- they're trying to make Christianity illegal, they're trying to stop me from complaining about paying taxes, etc. The one where a black cop mistreats a white kid during a traffic stop is insanely tone deaf.

I lived in NYC during 9/11. I don't remember seeing any of these, but I remember tons of news stories about xenophobic assholes attacking Sikh business owners because they couldn't tell the difference between Sikhs and Muslims (not that attacking Muslims would have been any better). Then we had the "Freedom Fries" bullshit and an unnecessary war.

"Freedom" is such a misunderstood and overused concept. Ugh.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 8:29 AM on February 7, 2022 [3 favorites]

I wonder if creators of American PSAs feel constrained very badly by not being able to turn up the gore like they do in, for example, New Zealand's drunk driving spots, or those UK workplace safety ones that show horrific accidents in detail with the screaming and the horror.
posted by thelonius at 8:55 AM on February 7, 2022

martin q blank, thanks! It is a bit easier when updating older posts instead of writing new ones, but I've been raring for a way to fix those old broken links for years, so I've definitely got more than enough material for a month.
posted by Rhaomi at 11:28 AM on February 7, 2022

but where are the Crash Test Dummies?
posted by elkevelvet at 2:09 PM on February 7, 2022

So if America wasn't America it would look like Republicans' dream vision.
posted by mattholomew at 5:45 PM on February 7, 2022 [1 favorite]