In the public good

ADVERTISING: From wildlife to the wild life, some messages make you think.

From billboards with the family planning slogan "Hum do, hamare do", to Balbir Pasha creating awareness about AIDS, public service advertising campaigns have come a long way.

So far, in fact, that sometimes it's difficult to imagine that they are PSAs (as public service advertising is referred to in industry speak), with messages aimed at anti-littering, wildlife awareness or, most recently, anti-terrorism, managing to catch the eye with a creative panache sometimes missing in mainstream advertising.

The "Unbreakable" campaign launched by Mumbai Police in the wake of the 7/11 blasts is an extremely good example of this. Take the photo of a little girl with the slogan, "Don't let terrorism kill innocence". Or a picture of a woman with the statement, "Terrorism does not see a gentle housewife. It only sees destruction".

Or an earlier "Save the animals" campaign for WWF that had two leopards superimposed with size tags XL and S, aimed at stopping the use of animal fur in the fashion industry.

But not everyone thinks these public messages work. "I don't think PSA has managed to create what it set out to. For me, a PSA becomes effective when it creates a movement, and very few have managed to do that," says Josy Paul, national creative director, David, citing the example of the AIDS Heroes' Project which managed to drum up a lot of discussion and achieve more by way of public awareness.

Emmanuel Upputuru, senior creative director, O&M, argues that PSA campaigns have become more effective in recent times, given the increase in the number of issues that has the chattering classes, well, chatting about them.

"While in the past it was limited to population control, or unity in diversity, it's more about wildlife, conservation, AIDS or smoking now," he says "" clearly, all of them vocal middle class concerns. As to how the messages are getting slicker, you can thank the involvement of corporate houses and NGOs behind these issues, and their creatives.

It helps that these campaigns pick up awards in the bargain. But Paul insists they still have a long way to go, and need to exploit mediums like the mobile and the Internet "to make them more effective".

"There is a lot more to do and it's good to see people taking initiatives to spread vital messages," counter Upputuru. Well, anything that can make the middle class also think.