Superhero PSAs - Will You Listen to Their Message?

Last week, Marvel included an 8-pager in the New York Daily News that’s basically a public service announcement with Spider-Man and NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg, telling New Yorkers all about the city’s new Workforce1 public employment service. While it’s a bit surreal to see Spidey acting like a tour guide, this kind of thing isn’t exactly something new. It brings up the interesting history superheroes being used to educate and edify in addition to entertain. 

    

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #96-98 

Back in ’99, Hillary Clinton introduced Superman as the newest member of the White House’s international humanitarian committee. Written in Albanian, the comic was distributed to hundreds of thousands of refuge children with the hope of educating them about the dangers of land mines left over from the war in Kosovo. Similar comics had been distributed following wars in Bosnia and central America.

BATMAN: THE ULTIMATE EVIL 

Tying into the DON’T! BUY! THAI! boycott that rose in response to sex slavery in Thailand, this story saw Batman going undercover to investigate a child prostitution ring in the thinly-veiled analog "Udon Khai." He later finds out that his parents' murder was actually a result of them being targeted because of his mother efforts to counter this kind of crime in Gotham - - which possibly crosses some lines by tying the real world issues into a retcon.

Some of this overlaps with our earlier discussion about whether superheroes should take on real world villains. All three of these examples are, of course, far more serious than Spidey informing people how to get jobs. The first question is whether it’s in good taste to bring up such serious issues and threats when we're dealing with such larger-than-life, outlandish characters. THE ULTIMATE EVIL, for example, just begs the question of why, if Batman regularly reports to the Justice League, wouldn't he just annihilate the white slavery ring immediately? And then you think about how there is no invincible vigilante with limitless resources in the real world. The second question is whether hearing lectures from fictional characters is actually going to change anybody's mind if they haven't been listening to their parents, teachers or bosses.

When I was a kid, every Saturday Morning cartoon was basically a veiled PSA anyway. Pick any episode of GI: JOE or CAPTAIN PLANET or BRAVESTARR and chances are very good it’ll have an epilogue spelling out the moral. Don't shoplift, don't huff, and so on. I think the notion of behavior being a result of fiction is a hot, steaming, responsibility-shirking crock, but I do wonder sometimes if the Reagan administration's heavy anti-drug campaign in 80s entertainment may have shaped me being “straight edge." Without getting too serious about it, I do think of superheroes as aspirational models for discipline, altruism, fitness and the like. It's hard not to.  

Of course, as you get older, you want a little more moral ambiguity in your comics and writing teachers actively discourage using stories to moralize. I know I’ve rolled my eyes at plenty of ham-fisted “message” stories that try to force some kind of philosophy or branch of politics down your throat. And so the ever-elusive balance swings, with the enduring question of if a message can ever significantly affect somebody. It also leads to some puzzling mis-directed shots at audiences, like this video where Spidey encourages kids (most of them likely well under 18) to go vote…

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of  HYBRID BASTARDS!  &  UNIMAGINABLE . Order them on Amazon   here  &   here . Follow him on Twitter:  @tompinchuk

Those PSA rarely work or either get very annoying "LISTEN TO US YOU SHOULD/SHOULDN'T Blablabla YADDA YADDA....."
 
But that ol' Superman issue about mines was ok~
Much more thoughtful than the usual PSA comics.

I'd listen to em. Drugs are bad, m'kay?

I think its more useful in cartoons then in comics and that it all depends on the hero(s) and the     
message their sending. 

The PSAs always seemed a bit forced, to me. Using comics to push a particular brand of morality tends to be much more effective when it's part of the usual fabric of the comic (using the X-Men to combat prejudice, for example). 
On the other hand, I can understand the appeal of using superheroes for this purpose, especially when the character seems tailor-made for a particular message. Guys like Superman and Captain America work well for these sorts of things, because they strive to embody certain principles and behaviors in the first place. 
Another advantage you have is that these guys actually tend to live up to the standards they're pushing on us. Having, say, a professional athlete lecture me about the importance of good citizenship has an unfortunate tendency to decline in effectiveness when said athlete gets caught in a hotel room with a dozen hookers and metric ton of heroin the week after the PSA airs.

If Superman says so then it must be true.

Often seems contrived, but I like the effort nonetheless.

Advertising has been proven effective over and over even if we don't consider it personally effective on us anecdotally so better the message be out there than not. 
 
With respect to what message, however, issues of morality and civics are good / important but perhaps not sufficiently relevant, applicable, or versatile in PSA-sized bites to matter.  My preference is for informational PSAs which provide objective information useful in emergency situations... how to put out a grease fire, deal with fallen power lines, assist a broken ice victim, etc.  Superman dealing with landmines works, Superman trying to deal with the nuances of domestic abuse tends not to.  The life-saving factoids above have a proven history of saving lives whether coming from the Boy Scouts, PSAs, or GTA4. 
 
Children are trivia and information sponges... if their favorite character is explaining to them how to administer the Heimlich maneuver, that can stick and be applied with a fair likelihood of success... but a blunt message trying to cover race relations, bullying, peer pressure, etc. are going to tend to be hard for a kid to remember (because of the ambiguity of their personal situations- does a kid always recognize they're being pressured by their peers?) or apply with universally favorable results.

Tom Pinchuk's a straight edge???? No alcohol? Shame on you. Heheehhe

There was also a Spider Man and Power Pack issue where they tried to prevent child abuse and sexual abuse... I guess it worked because i don't think it's been an issue in the comics since..

I do the exact opposite of what PSAs tell me to do. :)

PSA's just don't work sometimes. It's ironic that i'm responding to this topic because we're supposed to shoot a PSA in my video production class!

Superman is always right! 
your also right Flare.....

G.I. Joe - "Knowing is half the battle"

I love PSAs I was acutally reviewing a few like the Canadian Spider-Man ones you mentioned, I did the Toronto one for sure.
 
Like "inception" all you need to do is plant an idea.  If the people don't like it, they will warp the idea.  If they like it, then it works.
 
I think comics need to have morals again if they won't be layered work like Grant Morrison's Batman.

I sometimes wonder how well PSA's work. I think it depends on the issue, but the Amazing Spider-Man comic for New Yorker's highlighting employment assistance sources in the city is both timely and brilliant. I can't think of a more appropriate hero to use for this particular campaign (about the struggles of unemployment), and I am all for it when a character is used to promote an issue that is so fitting to who they are. It just makes sense. 

Nice video, lol.

I say PSA's are effective (to those who would listen). It's like the G.I. Joe in some comics giving out these messages. 

Better than the PSA I would get when i was a kid
  

Well if Batman says I shouldn't get underage Tai hookers then I definitely won't lol

How many people believe that most comic book readers are not on heroine because of Roy Harper? Hmm...?

Nope and in the age of YouTube, the last thing there needs to be is a person with a full mask on talking to the camera. The things they’d make’m say… LOL!!! 

GI Joe and TMNT PSAs supplied my friends with countless in-jokes and catch-phrases, so bring 'em on, they're fun!

" PSA's just don't work sometimes. It's ironic that i'm responding to this topic because we're supposed to shoot a PSA in my video production class! "