Public Service Advertising in China:

1

• Public Service Advertising in China
• Social Marketing in the Making
• By
• Kara Chan
• Hong Kong Baptist University
• Hong Cheng
• Bradley University
• AAA Asia-Pacific Conference
• June 1, 2001

2

• Public Service Advertising (PSA)
• Communicating a message on behalf of some good
  cause
• Created for free by advertising professionals,
  with space and time donated by the media
• A major social marketing format
• Social Marketing
• Adopting marketing mindset, processes and
  strategies to non-commercial settings
• Also a logical extension of persuasion theory and
  diffusion theory

3

• PSA in China
• 1979 Commercial advertising came back to life
• 1987 First PSAs occurred
• 1996 PSA became truly popular
• 1996-99 70,000 PSAs were published or aired

4

• Themes of National PSA Campaigns in China
  (1996-2000)
• Year Theme
• 1996 Promoting the revival of traditional Chinese
  values
• 1997 Eulogizing the Chinese nation's unremitting
  efforts to make itself stronger and celebrating
  the return of Hong Kong to its motherland
• 1998 Encouraging laid-off workers from
  state-owned enterprises to start afresh and
  glorifying the heroic spirits demonstrated in
  anti-flood campaigns
• 1999 Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the
  founding of PRC and the return of Macao to its
  motherland
• 2000 Promoting an optimistic outlook on life and
  advocating environmental protection and natural
  resources conservation

5

• Chinese PSAs Characteristics
• Alternative means for promoting dominant ideology
• Seasonality
• Limited geographic reach

6

• PSAs Functions in China
• Offering correct courses for actions to current
  social problems
• Advocating actions that serve the welfare of the
  majority or the long-term benefits of the
  society
• Raising the moral standard by establishing an
  optimistic outlook on life
• Educating the public on health and hygiene issues
• Eulogizing the Party's achievements, facilitating
  political stability, and promoting social
  development
• Increasing advertisers, advertising agencies, and
  media practitioners' sense of social
  responsibility and their willingness to
  contribute to public services, and improving the
  advertising industry's public image
• In short, helping with the socialist spiritual
  civilization

7

• A Semiotic Analysis of Chinese PSAs
• Williamson's Oppositional Decoding Formula
• Sign
• Signifier Signified
  Individualism
• Signifier Signified
• Image Marlboro Man

8
From Food Coupon to Quality Wheat Flour
9
From Big Four to Small Eight
10
From Foreign Nail to Home-made Rocket
11
One Chopstick vs. a Bundle of Chopsticks
12
Challenges for PSA in China

• Danger of turning PSA back into propaganda
• Source-dominant
• Hampered by outdated advertising law
• Lack of funding