I saw that Sarah beat me to the punch with emotional advertisements, but since she focused on vignette style ads, I'll focus on the PSA.

A PSA is, a public service announcement that is created mostly pro-bono by media and advertising groups on behalf of organizations for varying causes. PSAs are intended to raise awareness around a certain issue, be it drunk driving, child abuse or smoking.

Some of the most well known PSAs, at least in Canada, are the WSIB ads. The workplace safety ads use graphic depictions of workplace "accidents" to demonstrate the importance of keeping oneself safe at work. These ads have been criticized and praised for their methods of shock tactics in order to get the message across.

But some of the best PSAs come from Australia, a country with ads ranging from topics such as anti-smoking, drug abuse and child welfare. PSAs tend to tell stories in 30 seconds to a minute or so to show the consequences of certain possibly destructive behaviours or, as I find, often to show the faces behind a cause such as cancer.

Instead of using Nike's method of rapid succession of random images meant as metaphors for the human spirit when they really have nothing to do with shoes and sports equipment, my favourite PSA uses a small snippet of one family's life. Though the ad is meant to evoke an emotional response, I feel that it is far more sincere in its few moments and in the actors than Nike's overarching statement on humanity in relation to sports.

This PSA, as far as I can tell, is for an organization for children battling cancer. It could be 51 seconds in real time and it makes me cry every time. I feel like the PSA has more of a right to use emotion to make their point because often they are not trying to sell you something for complete consumer based reasons; they are often trying to help you or someone you care about, so why shouldn't they tug at your heart strings?

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