Rhetorical Analysis on What Makes a PSA Effective

For a PSA to be effective, it must provoke an emotional reaction while providing the audience with factual and valuable information. The two PSA’s I have chosen to rhetorically analyze were created with the intention of preventing accidents caused by drunk driving. Both PSA’s use pathos to frighten audiences from drinking and driving, and the often fatal effects. From the dark images and the eerie tone of each PSA, they spark the emotion of fear in audiences everywhere, regardless of age, gender, or race. Although both PSAs could be made more effective thorugh the use of logos, the first PSA is effective in achieving its purpose of scaring the public from drunk driving due to the use of pathos and ethos, and the second PSA is effective solely through the use of pathos.  

Pathos is a highly effective rhetorical tool in PSAs because it leads the audience to develop strong emotions for or against the message the creator is trying to convey. In both MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) PSAs I have chosen, they rely heavily on inflicting an emotional response of fear and sadness on their audience. Although both PSAs are covering the same issue of drunk driving, they each use a different approach to trigger this strong emotional response. In the first PSA, they ask the audience a question stating, “How was the party?” followed by “Don’t be stupid. Don’t drink and drive.” This question and statement are placed on top of an image of a dead person's feet, with a toe tag placed on their left big toe. It is important to note the lack of colors and content in general. By keeping the image and wording as minimal as possible, it forces the audience to focus solely on the message at hand, that driving under the influence often leads to death.  

The second PSA has a similar tone, but utalizes pathos in a slightly different way. In this PSA the image in the background is blurry and difficult to make sense of. The reason for doing this is so the audience is forced to give their full attention to the words. Capitalized, and printed in bold, the words stand out saying, “Drive while intoxicated, and you’ll be lucky if it’s a cop that stops you.”  Personally, I find this statement to be immensely powerful in sparking an emotional response. Compared to the first PSA, the second one is less forward, it forces the audience to reflect on the outcomes of drunk driving on their own. The first PSA is straight to the point, as it displays an image of a dead body lying in a hospital bed, while the second has the audience form a conclusion on their own, leaving it up to the imagination of each person who viwes it.  

The tone and style of the two PSAs are both remarkably similar. They both contain no color, minimal text, and the overall tone is dark and off putting. They want their audiences to feel uncomfortable while viewing their PSAs, and with the idea of drunk driving in general. The image used in the first PSA leaves little up to the imagination as they chose to include a photo of a dead body. Rather than showing a gruesome scene of the aftermath of a drunk driving accident, they chose an image of a dead person’s feet dressed with a hospital toe tag. The reason for showing this image was for the audience to picture themselves, or someone they love in this state. Although it is not gory, it is an accurate reflection of what can happen after an event of drunk driving.  

The second PSA uses a blurry image of a car crashed into a tree. The image is shown in black and white, and it is difficult to make sense of at a first glance. The use of such a low-quality image was done purposely, as it causes the audience to direct their full focus to the message that lies on top of the ill-defined image. The message on the second PSA is printed in capital letters and in a strong bold font. The creators chose this style because it helps to set the serious tone, and it draws the audience's attention faster than a smaller and more delicate font would. While the first PSA uses the unsettling image to provoke an emotional response from their audience, the second PSA incorporates a dark, blurry image of a car crash as a background to emphasize the powerful message over top of it.  

Both PSAs' effectiveness lies in the hands of pathos, and stirring up emotions of fear and sadness in their audiences. Along with the use of pathos, the first PSA also incorporates ethos, through the small MADD logo placed in the corner of the poster. MADD is a huge organization, with a multitude of power and support behind it. Since MADD was founded in 1980, they have saved over 370,000 lives and is supported by thousands across the U.S. and Canada. So, when people who pass by this PSA see that it is endorsed by such a large and respected organization, they might be more willing to take what the PSA has to say into consideration. The second PSA has no organization attached to the poster itself. And although the message of the two is the same, the second one comes off as less credible given the fact that there is not a strong organization, like MADD, backing up their message. Credibility is important, especially when trying to be persuasive, as it gives the audience a reason to feel as if the information, they are being provided with is factual, and can be trusted.  

The lack of logos in each PSA may have an influence on the amount of people who do not take them seriously. As stated earlier, the effectiveness of each PSA relies strongly on the emotions they inflict on their audiences. The goal is to make the audience fear drunk driving, and the negative outcomes that often result from it. But for some, these feelings of fear and sadness may not be enough for them to take this issue seriously. Therefore, both PSAs could potentially further their effectiveness by incorporating some form of logos. By adding something as small as a shocking statistic related to the number of deaths caused by drunk driving each year, the audience would then have the ability to put the devastating effects of drunk driving into perspective. Also, by adding a drunk driving related statistic, it could deepen the audience's emotions of fear and sadness by connecting the graphic scenes displayed in the PSAs to real life, and the important people in their lives. Although logos are not incorporated in these two PSAs, it is a powerful tool in enhancing the effectiveness in PSAs, advertisements, and all works of literature.  

It is difficult to come to a firm consensus on which PSA is most effective in preventing drunk driving. The effectiveness of each PSA will differ depending on how much, and what kind of emotional response the reader receives after viewing it. Which makes it almost impossible to compare the effectiveness of the two. It comes down to opinion, and what one the triggers more of an emotional reaction against the act of drunk driving to everyone. Personally, I find the image in the first PSA to be highly effective in causing feelings of fear, while the text in the second one to be more effective in making the audience reflect on the outcomes and decisions that need to be made around the act of drunk driving.  

In conclusion, both PSAs are effective in sending the message that drunk driving is dangerous and is oftentimes fatal to those involved. Both PSAs can inflict feelings of fear and sadness onto their audiences with the dark imagery and the unsettling messages displayed over each image. The first PSA relies more heavily on the photo compared to the second one. In the first one, the creators intended for audiences to imagine themselves, or someone they love lying lifeless in a hospital bed like the person shown in the photo. While the second PSAs effectiveness relies much more heavily on the emotions caused by the text. Both PSAs are effective in warning people of the harmful effects caused by drunk driving accidents, but they could be made even further effective by incorporating aspects of logos. By adding information surrounding the issue of drunk driving, it would allow for audiences to gain a better perspective on the effect drunk driving has on us as a society, and how truly devastating it can be.