Social advertisement. Types of social advertising. Social advertising: law, effectiveness, examples

Russian legislation gives a precise definition of the concept of social advertising. First of all, this advertising is distributed in order to convey to the majority of the population the necessary information, which notifies about significant charitable and public events held by city or federal authorities, investors, philanthropists and other persons who want to provide assistance to groups of people in need. Social advertising can be distributed in any way, for example, shown on television, broadcast on the radio, published in the press or promoted through outdoor advertising. It is addressed to a large audience that can benefit from this information.

Obligations of advertising platform owners

Owners of advertising sites are required to place up to 5% of the main area per year on their structures. Television channels, outdoor advertising operators, and media publishers are required to provide 5% of their airtime or printed space for social advertising per year.

Law on social advertising

The law on social advertising states that this is a type of non-profit advertising that is aimed at changing public behavior patterns and drawing the attention of the masses to social problems. Typically, the customers of social advertising are government agencies and special services responsible for order in society. Discounts are provided for the production of such advertising, or it is produced free of charge. There is also regional social advertising, which attracts the attention of residents of a certain region to existing problems. She calls for changing attitudes towards various difficulties and for the whole world to fight negative phenomena.

Vivid examples of such advertising are well-known campaigns against drunkenness, domestic violence, calls for observance of the rules of public order, and adherence to traffic rules. Social advertising also plays an important role, calling for a healthy lifestyle and the protection of natural resources and resources. Social advertising is also important, calling for care for loved ones, for attention to your parents, who live alone and often need the love of their grown children. Watch a New Year's video about mom:

Points of the law on social advertising

Social advertising can be submitted by both individuals and legal entities, as well as government agencies, local governments, and municipalities.
It is important to note that social advertising should not contain specific brands of goods, or advertise trademarks or brands. Any means of individualization of goods or organizations should not be emphasized, except for the cases specified in the fifth subparagraph of this law.
Persons or organizations distributing advertising must necessarily enter into an agreement for the distribution of social advertising within 5% of the volume of all advertising distributed per year. The procedure for concluding such an agreement is established by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
If social advertising is distributed in radio or television programs, then the duration of the mention of the advertising sponsors should not exceed 3 seconds, and the mention or display of the sponsors itself should not be allocated more than 7% of the frame area. When distributing advertising by other means, this information should not occupy more than 5% of the advertising space. If advertising is submitted by government agencies, municipalities or local authorities, then these restrictions do not apply.
In social advertising, references are allowed to those organizations that are aimed at improving socially significant objects, at supporting people in need who find themselves in difficult situations, who require treatment or other assistance.
Social advertising allows showing individuals who find themselves in difficult situations and in need of charitable assistance or treatment.

Social advertising functions

The main functions that social advertising performs are increasing the humanity of society, changing public opinion and directing it towards increasing consciousness. With the help of social advertising, you can achieve goals that improve the life of society.

This type of advertising, like all others, performs the function of influencing the formation of certain views and aspirations, changing the behavioral types of people in relation to any object, and creating new values. The laconicism and emotionality of advertising evokes a response from the audience, finds its adherents and followers, draws attention to the problems existing in society and encourages society to fight them.

Types of social advertising

Encouraging a healthy lifestyle, drawing public attention to the need to eat right, exercise, and be examined by doctors on time. Attention is paid to such problems as protection from AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, protection from unwanted pregnancy, and family planning. Another goal of this type of advertising is to motivate society to eradicate such negative factors as alcohol addiction, drug addiction, smoking;

Appeals for charity and mercy. This type of advertising encourages to provide assistance to public organizations, people in need, to allocate funds for the construction of objects that are significant for the entire society, for example, churches, hospitals, health resorts, etc.;

Promoting respect for law and order and laws. Advertising posters create in society a desire to comply with constitutional laws, fulfill their duties to the state and other people, and introduce aspects of legislative acts;
Event advertising is issued to familiarize citizens with upcoming events, city holidays, special occasions, the purpose of which is to unite society and satisfy its need to celebrate important dates for everyone;
Information advertising that sends messages to government organizations and services that are significant to society. Here you can find telephone numbers, addresses, links to sites that provide services, where you can leave complaints or suggestions, and where you should contact in certain cases.

Each type of social advertising can be divided into subtypes, and in each specific case the advertising is aimed at a specific goal. Therefore, the detailed classification may change depending on the current problems of society, the chosen course of government policy and other internal and external changes.

It is necessary to clearly distinguish between two types of social advertising: advertising of values and information advertising promoting social programs, services, and organizations.

Advertising of values exists all over the world. It is philosophically integral, like the 10 Commandments, and therefore, as a rule, does not require the presence of the creator’s brand. In our country, there has been only one such pure social project so far - “Call your parents!” If a signature does appear under such value-based advertising, then most often we are dealing not with social advertising, but with social discourse. Thus, advertising with the slogan “People are talking” (MTS) is a commercial advertisement with social discourse, and the 2003 SPS advertisement - “A well-fed soldier is the best defender” - is a political advertisement with social discourse.

Informational social advertising is a significant type of advertising in our lives. It draws attention to very important problems of society, to social programs and the possibilities of solving them. The main thing in this advertising is the presence of feedback. If a problem is clearly, acutely and vividly revealed, then the social responsibility of such advertising is to give viewers the opportunity to choose ways to solve this problem or react to it. Such advertising must be signed indicating telephone numbers, website, and other contacts so that viewers can react to it and express their attitude to the described situation. Thus, in advertising about orphans, the video often ends on a bear left on a bench. Such advertising fills viewers with a sense of guilt and creates a strong desire to adopt a child. Most of these impulse adoptions then result in people regretting their action because they cannot cope with the adopted child.

First of all, it is necessary to make a reservation that the term “social advertising” is used only in Russia. All over the world it corresponds to the concepts of “non-commercial” and “public” advertising. Hence the difference in the interpretation of the terms:

“Nonprofit advertising is advertising sponsored by or for the benefit of non-profit institutions and intended to encourage donations, encourage voting in someone's favor, or attract attention to public affairs” [Courtland L. Bove, William F. Ahrens Modern Advertising 1995, 610].
“Public advertising conveys a message promoting some positive phenomenon. Professionals create it for free (it would be more correct to talk about the ethical position of not profiting). The place and time of advertising in the media are also provided on a non-commercial basis” [Wells W., Burnet J., Moriarty S. Advertising: principles and practice 2001, 800].

The following term is derived from existing practice. We are talking about a common and most important subtype of social advertising - government advertising. Government advertising is the advertising of government institutions (such as the army, air force, tax police) and the promotion of their interests.

And finally, the fourth type, which we consider most relevant to the realities of our country, is social advertising itself.

Its purpose is the humanization of society and the formation of its moral values. The mission of social advertising is to change the behavioral model of society.

Tatyana Astakhova, one of the first researchers of social advertising in Russia, in the article “Good ideas are advertised in America,” described Western standards of social advertising, which were primarily oriented toward social advertising in Russia. “The very phrase “social advertising” is a copy of the English “social advertising”. In the USA, the terms “public service advertising” and “public service announcement”, abbreviated PSA, are used to refer to this type of advertising. The subject of a PSA is an idea that must have some social value. Social advertising is often designed for the widest audience that is concerned about universal problems: the fight against violence, nature conservation, children's (and society's) health, drug addiction, AIDS. The goal of PSA is to change public attitudes towards an issue and, in the long term, to create new social values.” The Russian analogue of PSA is the subject of our research.

Some analysts distinguish two more levels of social advertising:

2. Advertising that paints an “image of the world”, designed to legitimize already existing or just proposed moral and behavioral norms. Thus, second-level advertising, for example, does not simply encourage the use of condoms (or not to throw garbage past the trash can), but provides an ideal picture of a “strategic” attitude to life, into which the supposed correct actions are built in as a logical element. Such advertising is more effective and interesting, but in Russia it actually does not exist. Domestic social advertising is still more “instrumental”: it describes an action that needs to be performed.

Key participants in the social advertising market

Of course, it is too early to talk about the concept of the market, but the main players have already been identified - this is the state (including ministries and departments), non-profit organizations, politicians and political parties, and business.

If we have already defined government advertising as a subtype of social advertising (see definition), then the inclusion of social motives in political and commercial advertising cannot be called social advertising, although it imitates it (social advertising is often trusted more). That’s why the 2003 SPS advertisement, for example, “A well-fed soldier is the best defender,” or the blatant allusion in Chelyabinsk on the State Duma building in 2007 — “Call your family!” is, of course, political advertising with social discourse.

Do we need a separate law on social advertising?

Until recently, in discussions on this topic, there was a confident opinion that such a law was needed. However, opponents of the law have very compelling arguments: it will only complicate the regulation of social advertising and demonstrate their helplessness in managing processes in the social advertising environment in Russia. Indeed, in the developed countries of the world there is not only a law on social advertising, but not even a Law “On Advertising”, since in a stable advertising market there are no blatant precedents and constant violations.

By the way, the main confusion in the interpretation of social advertising also lies in the fact that the term “social advertising” itself is not entirely accurate. “Social” is too ambiguous a word to have precise connotations. “Advertising” is too commercial in our understanding. All major disputes and interpretations, including in the field of legislation, also arise because of this terminological inaccuracy of wording.

Having studied the situation with legislation in the field of social advertising in countries near and far abroad, a group of experts and I came to the conclusion that it is appropriate to make changes and additions to this legislation within the framework of Article 10 of the existing Federal Law “On Advertising” of March 13, 2006.

Commercial and social advertising: similarities and differences

It is quite difficult to distinguish social advertising from other types of advertising. In order to analyze the features of social advertising in the most simple and accessible way, it is best to consider it in comparison with commercial advertising.

Purpose

Commercial: Promotion of a brand/product/service on the market.

Social: Humanization of society and the formation of its moral values.

Mission

Commercial: Changing the behavioral model of society from an economic point of view.

Social: Changing the behavioral model of society from a humanistic, social point of view.

Roles

Commercial: Marketing, economic, social, communication, information.

Social: Educational, educational, propaganda, communication, information.

Item

Commercial: Product, service, object (company, brand).

Social: An idea that has some social value.

Types/species

Commercial: Consumer (trade and retail), political, image, address and reference, corporate, social (public).

Social: Non-profit, public, government, social.

Goals

Commercial: Create awareness, provide information, persuade, remind, persuade to purchase.

Social: Draw attention to pressing social problems, change the attitude of the population towards any problem.

Similarities

Carriers.

press (newspapers, magazines: advertising modules, texts, information notes - so-called text advertising, information and advertising inserts, applications);
printing advertising (printed: books, reference books, booklets, leaflets);
advertising in electronic media (on radio and television: commercials, spots, programs, sponsorship);
film advertising (including advertising before films on video cassettes, DVDs, and in cinemas);
outdoor advertising (neon, pylons, billboards, banners, lightboxes, signs, signs, building decoration, etc.);
advertising on the Internet (websites, banners, text advertising, mailing lists, conferences, chat rooms, forums, bulletin boards, discussion lists);
advertising in cellular networks (SMS mailings, information directories);
mailings;
transport advertising;
holding various promotions and events (holidays, conferences, sessions, competitions, seminars, festivals, exhibitions, etc.);
information sponsorship (in all types and on all media);
non-traditional types of advertising (some of them are highlighted above, as well as the design of points of sale, souvenirs, inflatable advertising, balloons, advertising on tickets, statements, cash receipts and much more);
PR methods (although PR includes advertising and therefore the points described above).

Differences

If commercial advertising pursues fairly obvious goals (informing about the release of a new product on the market, encouraging increased purchasing activity, changing consumer attitudes towards a particular service or product, changing consumer habits), then the purpose of social advertising is to attract the attention of the general public to this or that another, usually problematic, phenomenon of social life. Most often, social advertising indicates certain social phenomena: for example, a high level of drug addiction or prostitution, a low birth rate, lack of attention to the elderly, etc. Government advertising may not be directly related to social issues, but promote one or another public institution, such as the armed forces. At the same time, the ultimate goal of social advertising (and government advertising as its subtype) is not only to attract the audience’s attention to any social phenomena, but also to change the attitude of citizens towards them. For example, by advertising the armed forces, the state sets itself the goal of changing the extremely negative attitude of Russian society towards the army, convincing that military service is a sacred duty for everyone, a job for real men, strong in spirit and body. That is, ultimately, to reduce the number of conscripts evading the army. That is why the mission of social advertising is to change the behavioral model of society. Today, it is this aspect that concentrates the main value difference between social advertising and political and commercial advertising.

Despite the fact that in all cases advertising is promoting something, the subject of promotion in the two types of advertising under consideration differs markedly. Commercial advertising promotes a product or service, while social advertising promotes social ideas and values.

2. Efficiency.

If the effectiveness of commercial advertising can be assessed based on specific market indicators, such as the level of sales of a particular service or product, then the effectiveness of social advertising should be measured by such indicators as public recognition of a particular social phenomenon and changes in public position in relation to it, formation of stable public opinion. In this case, one important thing should be taken into account: unlike commercial advertising, social advertising often does not bring quick results in the form of profit, material and moral dividends. Its effectiveness can manifest itself in a few years, or in a whole generation.

3. Target audiences.

Since social advertising aims to change the attitude towards various social phenomena of the entire population, the target audiences of commercial and social advertising differ accordingly. A specific commercial or poster is aimed at a narrow circle of consumers of the advertised product or service. Social advertising affects the whole society or its most active part, or those individuals who participate in making significant social, economic or political decisions.

state,
non-profit or public organizations,
business,
political factors.

And its placement should be mostly free.

Information The function of commercial advertising is the dissemination on a mass scale of information about a product or service, its nature, place of sale, highlighting a particular brand or trademark. The information function of social advertising is to inform citizens about the presence of a certain social problem and attract attention to it.

Economic The function of commercial advertising is to stimulate the sale of goods and services, as well as investment. In social advertising, the economic function is manifested in the long term in the desire to achieve results that are economically beneficial to the state, since the elimination of many social problems leads to the well-being of the state: the health of the nation, the receipt of taxes in full to the budget. This increases the potential of the state and ultimately leads to profit. Thus, maintaining the personal health of, say, employees simply leads to an intensive production rate in the companies in which they work. The health of a nation is also determined by the fact that a strong nation can reproduce healthy children. It can also be added that increasing the working capacity of citizens leads to increasing the potential of organizations and firms in which they work.

Educational The function of commercial advertising involves promoting various kinds of innovations in all areas of production and consumption. The educational function of social advertising is dissemination, instilling certain social values and explaining the problem, as well as, possibly, its source and solutions.

Social The function of commercial advertising is aimed at shaping public consciousness, strengthening public relations, and improving living conditions. The message of some advertising commercials can be disguised by social discourse, that is, the argument for the buyer’s choice in favor of a particular product or service will be its social usefulness. The social function of social advertising in the long term is aimed at shaping public consciousness, and its main mission, which we have already discussed, is changing behavioral patterns.

Aesthetic The function of commercial advertising is to shape consumer taste. Due to the fact that product advertising is created by talented designers, artists, directors and other people of creative professions, it can even become a work of art. Advertising videos that are brought to the level of art often win at international advertising festivals. But, unfortunately, they are not always functional. The aesthetic function of social advertising is also aimed at shaping the taste of the audience.

Practitioners' opinions

Based on materials from the round table of the Advertiser magazine

The Federal Law “On Advertising” (Article 3) states that social advertising is “information... aimed at achieving charitable and other socially useful goals, as well as ensuring the interests of the state.” Unfortunately, social advertising is often incomprehensible to those to whom it was addressed, is made at a low aesthetic and production level and, most importantly, social advertising has problems achieving what it was made for.

Issues for discussion:

What changes and trends in social advertising in Russia and the world can you note?
Which of the social campaigns conducted do you consider the most and least successful and for what reasons?
What specific ways do you see making social advertising more effective?
Experience of participation in the development of social advertising, examples of unsuccessful and successful, original solutions.

Alexandra Bogdanova, Marketing Director for Russia and the CIS, APC by Schneider Electric (Moscow)

I would like to note that there is much more social advertising now than, for example, 10-15 years ago. It can really be seen and heard: billboards on the streets, in the subway, radio spots, television spots. I attribute this to the fact that, firstly, during this time the country has taken another step in development towards building a society that strives to resolve social issues, and secondly, people have become more susceptible to such influences. This is connected both with personal development and with an increase in the material standard of living.

It is difficult to assess the success or failure of any campaign, since this would require official statistics on the “before and after situation,” so I will give my subjective assessment.

As an example of a campaign that works well or poorly, we can mention the “Code of Politeness” billboards and a series of TV spots with celebrities on the topic of family values and the adoption of orphans + billboards about caring for orphans (“Someone else’s child can become your own”). It seems to me that the first campaign will not be successful, but the second, on the contrary, achieved its goal. The reasons for the possible failure of the first are the vagueness of the message, which does not contain a call to action and, secondly, the insufficient number of shields. The second campaign, on the contrary, evoked a response in the hearts of people - evidence of this is the increase in the number of children taken into families. I think that, in addition to the already mentioned development of society, this is the result of a competent PR and media strategy of the campaign organizers.

There are also funny examples: not long ago I noticed on the streets a rather bright advertisement from the city authorities “clean up after your dog.” It is memorable, but the paradox is that even if it reaches its target audience (dog owners), it is unlikely to work. The authorities have not prepared anything other than a call: there are basically not enough waste collection facilities in the city, and in places where dogs are walked on a large scale there were none - I don’t mean small fenced areas of 15x15 m, but equipped “vacant lots”, mini-squares and so on. I think that the people who were the organizers of this action simply approached the issue formally, without analyzing the situation.

It seems to me that the key to the success of social advertising is, first of all, people involved in organizing and conducting campaigns who are not indifferent to human problems in society, as well as the availability of the necessary resources, competent media planning and a non-standard approach when implementing such projects.

Lyudmila Gindulina, director of the company “Two Lions” (Novosibirsk)

Alexander Laskin, member of the international union of Internet activists “EZHE” (Novosibirsk)

In order for a social advertising campaign to be more effective, it is necessary not only to place it on outdoor advertising billboards and layouts in the press, but also not to forget about the Internet. An advertising campaign will be much more effective if it takes place offline and online at the same time.

What's the best way to do this? So, we need to plan an advertising campaign for one reason or another. The first thing we must do is determine into which groups the target audience of this advertising campaign is divided. Secondly, we need to understand where these target groups can be found both online and offline, and place advertising in these places. In the case of the Internet, this place may well even be separate sections of a particular site.

We cannot say how effective it is to place a website address on a social advertising billboard. As a rule, the sites indicated on such advertisements have non-obvious addresses that do not immediately fit the usual associations and therefore are difficult to remember. For example, sbersvet.ru, pravdd.ru, ugrozenet.ru, etc. Even if a person, having seen such an advertisement on the street, becomes interested in the information, then by the time he gets to home or work, he will simply forget the site address he saw.

In general, we have the feeling that those who plan advertising campaigns with a social orientation are simply earning money from the state or sponsors, without caring about the effectiveness of the campaigns themselves. Sites dedicated to social issues are not easy to find on the Internet. We're not talking about using search engines now. Like outdoor advertising billboards, social site banners should be found on the most popular, highly visited portals.

Thus, on the main page of the Novosibirsk city website, out of 15 banners, there is not a single social one. And Novosibirsk, like any metropolis, has a lot of social problems. The traffic of this city website is 60 thousand unique visitors per day. And, for example, the attendance of the website of the Regional Center for Family Forms for the Placement of Children is 20 people. The difference is obvious. And what’s surprising is that this social site has a “Friends and Partners” section with a list of commercial companies, including their name, logo, and a link to the site. However, none of these sites have a backlink or banner.

On the one hand, leaders of public organizations should take the initiative and establish cooperation with visited Internet resources not only within the same city. On the other hand, the social responsibility of business, which the authorities talk so much about, should extend to both offline and online.

Victoria Danilova, global marketing theorist, seller of ideas, candidate of sociological sciences (Pyatigorsk)

In general, analyzing domestic social. advertising, I’m reminded of propaganda posters from the Soviet era. Remember Bulanov’s photomontage poster “Dad, don’t drink”? Simple, concise and surprisingly terrifying. And the work of ISORAM artists “Remember, when you drink, your family is hungry”? They could, they did! Have we really lost any talented artists? Or maybe we have become more indifferent and the grief of others does not bother us?

I once had the opportunity to participate in a city social advertising competition. The first prize is recognition of the author and his work followed by advertising - what the young and ambitious need. I chose the problem of the number of abortions in our country. I went to antenatal clinics, talked with gynecologists, with women who had decided to take this step. It turns out that most are afraid not of the consequences, but of the pain of the upcoming operation, but anesthesia saves them from it. In general, there is no fear as such. Have you heard the theory about the genetic memory of every cell in the human body? These memories are stored and transmitted by billions of cells. And, of course, the female body remembers how a new life was born inside it, how all resources and forces were aimed at preserving this new life, and how one day this life was killed. These are not my fantasies, no! Anyone interested can find a lot of information on this issue on the Internet. A woman's uterus stores the memory of the life and death of the embryo, of every abortion, of the pain she endured. In essence, by killing the embryo, a woman creates a cemetery within herself. This was the idea of my poster - “The cemetery within itself.” I was not given a designer and was excluded from the competition, citing the fact that such a banner could not be hung on the streets of the city.

Vladimir Evstafiev, vice-president of AKAR, chairman of the commission of experts, president of Ima-press CJSC (Moscow)

Conversations that social advertising has the opposite effect are conducted by, forgive me, amateurs, no matter what positions they hold. First of all, we need to understand what social advertising is from a communication point of view. If it is defined by law as information, and officials can prohibit or allow it, that’s one thing. But if we called it communication or marketing communication that has a social meaning, it would be completely different. From a marketing point of view, social advertising already has a message. In commercial advertising we must give maximum information, but in social advertising it seems to be compressed. But at the same time, I believe that creating social advertising should be approached in the same way as creating commercial or political advertising. That is, the result should be good advertising. If I come up with an advertisement, then first I must clearly understand the audience, i.e. segment it. Then you need to clearly formulate the goals and objectives of your advertising campaign. The goal should not be to create beautiful social advertising simply because you don’t really want people to smoke. The task is completely different: to force people not to buy cigarettes or smoke in certain places, or to smoke little, or to quit smoking. There should be no abstract goals! Therefore, the problem of the ineffectiveness of social advertising lies not in the lack of professionalism of those who create advertising, but in those who launch it without testing. If the so-called creator came up with the most beautiful advertisement, and higher-ups began to haphazardly attach it somewhere, it will lead nowhere. If you test it, test it in a focus group, understand how it works, you won't have any mistakes. And then the question that the call not to smoke encourages people to take a smoke break will be removed from the agenda.

There are many scientific studies that have thoroughly explored different options for assessing the effectiveness of advertising messages. This is very difficult to do in social advertising. For example, let’s look at a specific call not to drive drunk. From the standpoint of social marketing, everything is correct, the audience is clearly defined, and so are the means of delivery. Never before have an anti-drunk driving ad encouraged anyone to get drunk and drive. Everything is error free here. But how can we evaluate its effect? How can we measure how many people got drunk and did not drive? It is very difficult to calculate, but you can come up with something else. For example, find out how and how many lives we saved on the roads. I recently watched a scary program about a girl who was hit by a drunken traffic police officer. Moreover, her own, the winner of the competition of the State Traffic Inspectorate itself in some city. How can we calculate this? There are ways to do this, I assure you, they just need to be scientifically substantiated and developed. Advertising must become a science.

The first difficulty of social advertising is its financing. But even here there are elementary solutions: do not tax it or write off the profit from the enterprise, or something else. Find purely economic ways to encourage any manufacturer to become sponsors of social advertising. This is easy to come up with at the state level, you just need to attract specialists.

Among our masterpieces of social advertising, I will cite the “Children of Beslan are painting the city” campaign, which was carried out by “IQ-Marketing”. You know that in the south, when people mourn, people wear all black, but here the city lost a huge number of residents, many of them put on mourning for the rest of their lives. And “IQ-marketing” invades this difficult atmosphere, brings there a lot of bright oil paints in jars with brushes and simply distributes them to everyone. Of course, everything was organized in advance, there were coloring books on the main square, various competitions were held, some children were prepared, but the rest were taken by surprise. Everyone received as much paint as they needed. If you want, paint it, if you want, take it for yourself, if you want, paint the fence, it doesn’t matter. I know that cars and some cows were painted back then, but in the end the city changed, it acquired bright rainbow colors - it’s brilliant. It is clear that you cannot drown out a mother’s grief with a red and yellow wall or a cow, but you can defuse the atmosphere a little.

At each Cannes advertising festival, at least 20 striking social videos are presented. The last one was an advertising video where the same boy, 4-5 years old, was first made up as a boy from the lower strata of society. He sits on the sidewalk with his legs dangling over the roadway. Everyone passes by without paying attention to him. And another time, this same boy, dressed in a nice nice suit, clean, combed, sits on the same sidewalk with his legs dangling, and a crowd of people immediately gathers and asks: “What happened? Boy, where is your mother? Why are you lost? Question: why do we treat different children differently?..

Roman Kozlov, head of the creative group NEWTON.PR&COMMUNICATIONS (Moscow)

In world practice, advertising that is done on behalf of public organizations (for example, social support funds and environmentalists) is distinguished by its radicalism and brightness. Because agencies throw their best creative forces at it, hoping to get a festival product. And a significant part of the exhibitors at Cannes are “social”, and they often receive serious awards for it.

And the customer, in turn, receiving a discount or even free services, gives the creators more freedom than companies promoting yet another chocolate bar.

There are no serious customers for social advertising in Russia yet. There are the same Greenpeace and WWF, but they don’t make the weather. And government agencies generally still understand social advertising as frontal propaganda. The level of competence of the state customer of the social sector until recently was somewhere in the 80s.

Accordingly, there is no understanding that information aimed at achieving charitable and other socially useful goals can be broadcast not only through direct advertising. Moreover, advertising is much inferior to other communication tools in creating a trusting relationship with the recipient of the message.

A social campaign in our time should be integrated, built on the TTL principle. The recipient must be involved in a system of concrete actions, and not just nod their head in response to a statement on the screen in the spirit of “stop corruption” or “HIV affects everyone.”

Although the “StopAIDS: Affects Everyone” campaign is an example of a good “social program”. It would work great accompanied by, say, BTL and events. It is safe to say that this would significantly increase the number of people tested for HIV.

Vladimir Korovkin, General Director of DDD agency FCBi (Moscow)

The main problem of social advertising in Russia, in my opinion, is the lack of faith in its effectiveness. Almost never does it have clear funding and is used either to replenish the agency portfolio or to solve some political problems of the customers. I have never yet come across a brief that would set extremely clear and measurable performance indicators, despite the fact that it is not difficult to do this in the social sphere. “Reduce the percentage of smokers by...”, “Provide... calls for early diagnosis of cancer”, “Reduce the number of accidents involving drunk drivers by...”. Until customers and creators of social advertising begin to think in such categories, nothing will change. By the way, social advertising is a rare example of authentic Russian word creation in advertising - this term is not used in any other developed market. The English version of “PSA - public services advertisement/announcement” is good because it clearly indicates the final beneficiary - the public. Who does social advertising serve is a mystery. To society? Do any of us consider ourselves at the everyday level a member of society?

By the way, not all advertising paid for by the state is social. In the United States (and even more so in Canada), the government is a major advertiser. Here are the main themes of the campaigns: attracting recruits to the army and navy (not a “social campaign”, just a large-scale recruiting campaign), promoting postal services (a regular grocery campaign), etc., etc. From the field of PSA, only a large-scale long-term campaign comes to mind forest fire prevention work (Smokey Bear). By the way, none of the Russian campaigns suffer from longevity, which is not surprising, since the creators’ task is usually to ensure another fruitless attempt to distinguish themselves in Cannes.

Victor Tamberg, managing partner of Tamberg & Badin (Moscow)

There is more social advertising - this is an obvious trend. The second trend, which naturally follows from the first (due to the growth of advertising noise, it is necessary to more actively fight for the viewer’s attention), is embodied in the fact that social advertising is becoming more cruel. In Russia this is not so noticeable, but the West, with its struggle for the rights of women, minorities and the environment, is already falling into insanity and immorality, frankly shocking the viewer. And to no avail. In Russia, programs are designated, advertising is done, but everything results in empty shaking of air and the development of budgets.

I would call the most interesting and successful advertising for WWF - the Wildlife Fund. Actually, of all similar organizations, I would generally call the WWF as having the most clear and competent strategy as a whole, which is reflected in advertising. What needs to be said in advertising (including social advertising): here is the problem, and here is the solution. WWF advertising campaigns talk about this. The bulk of native examples - about family, tolerance, etc. - are seen as simply using the state budget and do not imply evaluation of effectiveness.

Social advertising is the same advertising, and it “sells” in the same way and creates a certain idea. Only this idea is not associated with specific products/brands, but with social changes. How are these changes formed? It is necessary to convey to the viewer how it should be, how it should be. To enhance the effect, you can and should identify the problem: how it is now, how bad it is and what needs to be changed. But the way out must be shown. The consumer must understand what and how to do in order to solve the problem, which in this case is in the social field. Instead, advertisers either talk about nothing at all or resort to intimidation, showing all social ills and diseases. Thus, the viewer was frightened, but was not told what to do. In the end, the viewer will only defend himself from such information and not change anything.

The lack of an adequate advertising theory has another consequence - the lack of criteria for evaluating social advertising. If product advertising can be compared with the dynamics of contacts, sales and other numerical criteria, then what to do with social advertising? It’s impossible to check, because it’s a black hole where any budget can go. However, knowing what the goal is, you can check the “social network”. Social advertising reformulates certain social ideas among a certain group. Accordingly, it is quite possible to check the consolidation of these values in the course of relevant research, after which a conclusion can be drawn about how effectively the money was spent. These two parameters - understanding what needs to be changed in the public consciousness and testing these changes - will ultimately make it possible to create fully functional social advertising. Without this, social advertising is and will probably continue to be viewed only as a way to line one’s pocket (in our country) and as intimidation of the viewer (abroad). And until this approach becomes the norm, nothing will change.

Maria Tereshchenko, executive director of Brand Action Group (ANCS Group) (Moscow)

The main trend is that more funds have been allocated for social advertising, and, as a result, its quality and quantity have increased. Although, as before, the most successful campaigns are “frightening” campaigns: anti-tobacco, anti-alcohol, dedicated to compliance with traffic rules, AIDS, etc. If there is nothing to frighten, then the advertising turns out to be inexpressive and often not very clear.

Of the recent campaigns I saw, the most memorable one seemed to me to be a series of videos about traffic safety (//www.bezdtp.ru/social), where the problem is quite clearly and clearly shown. The videos leave a strong impression and draw attention to the situation they describe. Also, a few years ago there was a pretty good campaign to combat smoking among teenagers. I really liked the idea: the advertisement didn’t scare people about the consequences of smoking, but rather demonstrated that not smoking is truly “cool.”

The main problem with the low effectiveness of social advertising is that it is extremely rarely done according to all the rules of advertising science (audience analysis, brief, tests, etc.). Most often this is due to budget restrictions. And don’t forget about media placement, since it plays an important role in the success of the campaign, and “social media” is rarely given over to prime time or A-sides.

Natalya Tsebers, project manager of the Russian representative office of the Z-CARD® company (Moscow)

There is more social advertising in Russia, the topics have expanded, but there are no qualitative changes. I would like more interesting, unusual advertising using non-standard approaches and media, with a clearly verified target audience, calculated effect and constant monitoring of effectiveness. There is nothing of this yet.

What we can observe today is often done in free time from the main job. There are no people specializing in social advertising, but meanwhile we understand that there are subtleties and nuances here. There is also no complexity; competent creativity can be ruined by incorrect placement and vice versa. Nevertheless, the Russian advertising market is developing, and we hope that all existing problems in the field of social advertising will be gradually resolved.

Speaking about successful social projects, I immediately remember one of the Western advertising campaigns. It was aimed at increasing the caution of car drivers near schools. An image of a run-down child bleeding to death was plastered on the car's windshield. The slogan read: “Slow down when passing a school.” I don't know anything about the quantitative performance indicators of this campaign, but I think they were impressive. Here we see a clear statement of the problem, an adequate choice of the target audience and bright creativity that affects people’s emotions.

I have fond memories of the “Call Your Parents” campaign that took place in the 90s. A series of videos encouraging a specific simple action - picking up the phone and dialing a number - ultimately served to strengthen the institution of family.

Many social campaigns are doomed to failure precisely because they do not motivate specific actions, but only draw attention to a social problem. As a result, everyone knows there is a problem, but still has no idea what to do about it. Another mistake is calls with vague content and ill-conceived visual design. For example, now in the Moscow metro there are billboards “Say NO to cigarettes”, where the word “no” is very appetizingly laid out from cigarettes and evokes an open desire to smoke.

A non-standard approach to social advertising is a huge problem, as it requires the investment of additional resources. If the placement of social advertising on standard media is provided for by law, then with non-standard media the situation is much worse, and this cannot be done without targeted funding.

Viral marketing works great for social issues. With minimal investment, significant results can often be achieved. For example, the carrier is a picture or photograph distributed via the Internet, the content of which should “hook” a person. If this happens, he will send it to a friend, and so on down the chain. Another option is to spread information through blogs. In any case, the main task is to create a message that will certainly touch a person’s emotions. Not everyone decides on some kind of shocking advertising; many continue to write and draw banalities, but in vain.

Product placement in social advertising is also a very interesting topic. Actually, all cinema and TV programs are complete social product placement. Only sometimes it works in the wrong direction. But if the heroes of the films began to consciously act for the benefit of social goals, it would be interesting.

In the UK, so-called SOS cards are very common - these are hotline directories, various safety instructions, etc. They exist in a wide variety of areas: from fire prevention measures to recommendations for safe communication on the Internet. Such products owe their success to an advertising medium that allows this information to be stored in a pocket or wallet and accessed repeatedly. With the right approach, such a product will not only be carried in a wallet, but also shown to friends.

Representatives of the British police handed out small pink handbags to girls in nightclubs. In fact, these handbags turned out to be nothing more than social advertising that told the fair sex about safety rules that read: “Don’t walk alone in dark alleys! Don't drink a lot of alcohol! Shout loudly “Fire!” if you are attacked...” In combination with the tipsy young ladies depicted there, the advertisement made an indelible impression.

And recently we made a Z-CARD® for the StopAIDS campaign. This was a joint action of several organizations: some developed the creative, others printed it, others provided condoms for insertion, and others provided distribution. It all started, it would seem, with a small thing: we noticed that a condom was the right size for a credit card, and we made a corresponding sample of an advertising medium with a pocket. And it ended with an alliance with the Transatlantic Partners Against AIDS (TPAA) and Independent Media represented by Men’s Health magazine and the release of a quarter of a million copies of public service advertising. This is how a large social project grew from a simple idea. I want to say that when there is a good idea for a project, it becomes not so difficult to interest partners even on a non-commercial basis.

Alexander Chumikov, General Director of the International Press Club Agency. Chumikov PR and consulting", Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor (Moscow)

The general message today: social advertising is not clearly targeted at its audience and is ineffective. Social advertising is no different from any other. It is intended for a specific target group and is designed to solve a specific problem. In order to get into this group, advertising must first be researched and tested. And while testing is carried out when promoting a product for sale, this is not done in the case of social advertising. There are good logos, posters, and websites that take prizes at some international festivals, but many of these websites have dozens, or at best hundreds of people visiting them. Drawing beautiful social advertising from an aesthetic point of view is very cool and good, but what then? Missing the target audience.

What other important layers are not touched by the state in social advertising? This is a fight against drunkenness, which, by and large, has not yet been achieved, since state projects on alcohol will start in 2010. And the second most important problem is the fight against smoking. It came down to tobacco. This year, Russia joined the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, although after 150 countries had done so, that is, with a great delay. Joining the convention provides for a number of measures, including social advertising, starting with images on cigarette packs. And it became clear that if earlier they said “smoking is harmful,” then today we need to move on to some more complex things. Analyzing the experience of other countries, we need to observe what generally works and how it works, and then adapt this experience to our realities. So far the movement is not coming from the state, but from public organizations, and it is quite progressive. Alcohol is next. For now, everything is limited to a child begging “Daddy, don’t drink.” This is already better than “drinking is harmful” and “smoking is harmful”, “a drop of nicotine kills a horse”, etc. Within five years, tobacco advertising will be completely banned; it will no longer be on television, just as it is not in newspapers or on the streets. The only advertising left is in glossy magazines and the metro, but it won’t be there soon either. Cigarette advertising will be banned completely.

We need to move on to other, more effective measures. After all, in the field of commercial advertising, everything works very clearly, because no one will waste money, sales need to grow. And they grow as everything is measured and tested. The same should be true with social advertising.

After such monitoring, the launch of advertising campaigns immediately begins, during which families of four are shown along with the father. For City Day, posters appear representing a whole series. In the capital, images of a seamstress, a turner, a mechanic, a milling machine operator, a driver, etc. are hung. This is pure “social”, this is a demonstration that such people exist, that there is respect for them. But the execution is monstrous, of course. There is a smiling man in a helmet with the signature “foreman”, but this is not modern, not dynamic and therefore incomprehensible, it does not affect anything. And why? Again, because the writer writes, and the reader reads. Because there is a task, there is an idea that is brought to life by a designer or photographer, but in the end all this is not tested.

During the development of corporate styles for the Year of the Family, three options were considered at the top level for Moscow and for the country as a whole. Children 1 + X appeared on all logos instead of the previous one! It is very important to visualize such moments. Before we got to visualization, colossal research was carried out directly in Moscow, research on the image of family in the media, and only after that work on logos began. The same approach was used in developing the presentation calendar for the Moscow government. In the pictures it was important to get closer to people. Calendars with other people's foreign families breaking into smiles will not be hung on the wall. It was impossible to make calendars with famous people, because for some a specific person is an idol, and for others - an object of hostility. As a result, we came up with the idea to involve philocartists who collect collections of postcards. But that was just the beginning. We went through the stages of socialization, got into the target group first with general symbolism, its encryption in different fragments, and then the most interesting thing had to begin: ordinary people had to respond to our actions. I very often remember “Operation Y”, where there is a humorous phrase: “Do you think they gave me 15 days? They gave us 15 days!” This is the most important thing. That's why we held the competition “Moscow. Family Album”, where they implemented this engagement strategy. Muscovites sent us their photographs, which they could then see at the exhibition. We held a competition, organized an exhibition, and now these photographs are wandering around Moscow. The winners were chosen in three categories: “Family History”, “Young Family” and “Family Nest”. Both professionals and amateurs participated in each category. Hobbyists are more important for solving social advertising problems. A professional films everyone and looks at the frame as if it were a photograph, while an amateur films his family and looks at his family. Several thousand people took part in our action.

It is wrong to say that during the Year of the Family, social advertising will be the dominant factor in increasing the birth rate. Imagine that, on the one hand, you saw 10 social pictures, and, on the other hand, maternity capital was determined for you. Pictures will have a stronger effect on the consciousness of a wealthy person, but for people of lower social status, capital, of course, is more important.

Now we are carrying out serious anti-tobacco projects. The state is not involved in this yet, so our programs are aimed at journalists. In general, a social anti-tobacco campaign can be carried out from four angles: medical advertising (“scarecrowers”), ironic advertising; advertising encouraging smoking cessation; advertising of anti-tobacco lawsuits Cigarette packaging is one of the important aspects of the fight against smoking. The State Duma has not yet adopted a tobacco regulation that sets out how much space social (anti-tobacco) advertising should occupy on packaging.

And the “lights” inscriptions that exist to this day on packages (and in the draft regulations) are real tobacco (anti-social!) advertising.

There is one very sad fact: up to 5% of people can quit smoking on their own. Under the influence of substitutes (tobacco-containing chewing gum, patches) - up to 10%, with the use of expensive drugs and techniques - 20%. And the rest smoked and still smoke and will not quit. They will no longer be affected by any anti-tobacco advertising. We need to influence those who do not smoke yet. In our country, these are women and children - a group affected by smoking to a lesser extent than men. So when we work in their direction with social advertising, it makes sense.

But an increase in prices for tobacco products, which could reduce their availability, would also have a positive impact. And today even the cheapest lunch in a cafe costs 100 rubles, and cigarettes cost ten times less.

It is important to prohibit smoking in public places. We are thinking about how to place the results of the latest research in Moscow chain cafes in the form of social advertising: people sitting in non-smoking seats receive only a quarter less than the harmful dose that they would take in a smoking room. And twice as much as the air in the Lefortovo tunnel during rush hours...

Social advertising is a type of social product (in the USA and Europe, the term PSA - public service announcement) is traditionally used to designate it, and is significantly different from government and political advertising.

Most often, the customers of such advertising are government agencies or non-profit organizations, and advertising agencies and advertising distributors in some cases produce and place them free of charge or at reduced prices.

The most famous examples of such advertising are campaigns against drugs, compliance with traffic rules, promotion of a healthy lifestyle, environmental protection and others.

Story

The history of public service advertising begins in 1906, when the American Civic Association created the first advertisement of its kind, calling for the protection of Niagara Falls from harm caused by energy companies.

During the same years of the First World War, the then-created Committee on Public Information carried out active explanatory work, informing citizens about why the United States entered the war and what threatened the country with defeat in it.

The term “social advertising” as an analogue of the English “public service advertising” (PSA) in the professional environment began to be actively used by Igor Burenkov, who later became the director of public relations of Channel One.

In the post-war years, this body began planning work on social advertising. At first, the Advertising Council chose topics for advertising campaigns quite conservatively, and they did not cause much controversy or disagreement in society. His campaigns called for:

Write letters to soldiers who fought in Korea;
Fasten car seat belts;
Save the forest from fires.

But over time, the Council changed its policy. They began to choose hot and sensitive topics for campaigns. For example, the US Advertising Council was the first to draw the attention of the average person to the problems of illiteracy, child abuse, and AIDS.

The state, however, is also actively involved in social advertising. For the fight against drug addiction alone, the Clinton administration spent $1.8 billion on public service advertising from 1993 to 2000.

Great Britain

In the UK, the coordination of government social advertising is carried out by the Government Information Central Office, which has existed since 1946. It was created on the basis of the Ministry of Propaganda, which existed during the Second World War. Staff: 450 people. He collects orders from all government agencies and distributes them among various advertising agencies. Is a single customer before the media. The total annual budget is 300 million euros, advertising costs are 195 million euros per year. The office does not engage in political advertising or election campaigns.

Russia

In Russia, Article 3 of the Federal Law “On Advertising” dated March 13, 2006 N 38-FZ states that social advertising is

“information... aimed at achieving charitable and other socially useful goals, as well as ensuring the interests of the state”

In 2011, two laws were adopted that improve the legislative rules for the creation and placement of social advertising and bring them into line with the prevailing law enforcement practice in this area. In particular, organizations that produce or distribute social advertising free of charge no longer have to pay VAT on it, and NPOs that order social advertising no longer have non-operating income - which means the obligation to pay income tax disappears.

In 1993, a non-state Advertising Council was formed, which included both advertising producers and distributors. One of the main goals of the council was to create unified advertising products on social issues. Council members developed, in particular, layouts of social campaigns for print media, video and audio clips.

Due to the increase in the number of regional NPOs working with social advertising, in 2008, the Coalition of NPOs to promote the development of social advertising and charity in Russia was created in Moscow.

In 2011, a Commission on Social Advertising was created in Moscow under the AKAR (Association of Communication Agencies of Russia).

Belarus

Thus, social advertising in Belarus is legally concentrated exclusively in the hands of the state. According to Article 24 of the same law, advertising distributors are required to allocate 5% of the volume of placement for social advertising free of charge, and “the conditions proposed by the advertiser of social advertising regarding the time and method of its placement (distribution) are mandatory for the advertising distributor if the advertiser contacts him no later than a month before the expected date of its placement (distribution)."

Trends

A rapid growth in the scale of social advertising occurred in the 80-90s of the 20th century. The US Advertising Council estimates that the total amount of free television airtime allocated to the Council in 2000 was approximately $316 million, and the total amount of time allocated to PSA is approximately 6% of the total advertising market.

That same year, the National Broadcasting Association ( English) The United States calculated that local media allocated $5.6 billion for social advertising, of which $1.8 billion went to television.

Festivals and competitions

IAA Responsibility Awards is an international festival of social advertising. Organized by the International Advertising Association International Advertising Association ) in 2008 and is held annually.

An important event in the development of social advertising in Russia was the annual National Social Advertising Competition “New Space of Russia”, established in 2006 by the International Public Organization “National Council of Social Information”. The organizers call the goal of the competition the education of morality, a positive and creative way of thinking in children, youth and professional audiences.

Specialized events dedicated to social advertising are also regularly held. For example, at different times in Russia such social advertising festivals were organized and held as the International Youth Festival of Social Advertising ART.START, the Russian Student Festival of Social Advertising, the Kazan Festival of Social Advertising opened in 2009, the Vladimir Festival of Social Advertising, etc. Nine years The Moscow Festival of Social Advertising has been held. Since 2009, the Russian Festival of Student Social Advertising GLASS has been held in Yekaterinburg.

The phrase “Social advertising” comes from the English. Social Advertising, translated means attracting interest in significant problems or phenomena. This is one of the types of advertising, the purpose of which is to change patterns of social behavior. In other words, it is a form of impersonal representation, a way of disseminating social ideas among society. They, in turn, should contribute to the humanization of society as a whole, and to the conquest of new peaks that are useful from the point of view of social life.

Social advertising uses the same means of development as commercial advertising. However, there is a difference between them related to the purpose of their use and application. Social advertising has an important strategic task, the essence of which lies in changing the behavioral model of society, and not only in relation to the subject of advertising, but also in creating completely new and complex values. The object of this type of advertising is considered to be a social product. It can be presented in tangible and intangible form. Such products most often include ideas, attitudes, and values. All of them should influence a change in the consciousness of citizens, as well as mass behavior.

Social advertising, unlike the commercial variety, is necessary to represent government interests. For this reason, it is not presented to a specific group of citizens, but to a large audience. The people who are part of it are in no way related to each other by social status, level of earnings, or activity performed.

Social advertising functions

Economic function. Any category of advertising has an impact on the economic phenomenon, and it does not matter what goal is set during advertising. It creates demand for a specific product or category of products. Social advertising has a great influence on the development of completely new ideas or procedures;
Social function. Thanks to it, with the help of advertising it is possible to consolidate the necessary values, behavioral forms, and interests in the subconscious of people. Of course, its sphere of influence is narrow, but it penetrates deeply into all layers of society, informing them and influencing them. Advertising information deeply affects the human subconscious, as well as the behavior of society as a whole.
Communication function. Its essence is to notify a large number of people about certain events or data. This is a specific form of notification, which represents an impersonal exchange of data. During its presentation, advertising not only informs about a certain subject, but also transforms all data into an image that is memorable to the consumer;
Marketing function. The main purpose of this function is to promote a certain value or information. In other words, social advertising can be considered as a set of means necessary for non-price stimulation, as well as the creation of interest.

These four basic functions apply to all types of advertising, but in addition, the social variety has certain aspects of its impact on society. This:

It helps shape values and standards of thinking. Thanks to its influence, mass traditions, as well as established habits, are consolidated and returned;
Social advertising shows all human capabilities in terms of humanism, cultural values, and overall development. Its task is to create a desire to use and apply these opportunities correctly. As a result, it is possible to implement many changes that cause an increase in living standards;
The main goal of this type of advertising is considered to be to influence consumer behavior;
Among the techniques used in advertising when viewing it, there is an indirect method of influence. With its use, the level of consumer culture begins to increase;
Social advertising has a great impact on human consciousness. She introduces new knowledge into him, with the help of which he can improve himself individually, as well as make his life better.

Types of social advertising

Non-commercial variety. It is advertising sponsored by non-profit institutions or charitable donations. Its task is not to promote a product or service, but to influence human consciousness. The ultimate goal is not considered to be profit or benefit, since the object of advertising is a non-commercial product. Despite this, for its distribution, it uses the same methods and techniques as the commercial variety. In contrast, non-commercial advertising has two goals. 1) impact on the behavioral model of society, 2) clear focus on a large audience;
Social variety. This type of advertising is used to promote a certain positive phenomenon. This message is created by professionals for free, it is an ethical refusal to make a profit. Thanks to the public subtype of social advertising, it is possible to influence a large number of people, create new social values and idealize behavior;
State variety. As a rule, this type of advertising is used by traffic police infrastructures, police, tax forces and similar social institutions. Advertising promotes their interests and opportunities related to the activities they carry out. This is an existing practice that has a great influence on a person and his thinking in general. Ideas about these areas of life are changing, attitudes towards the relevant bodies are being re-evaluated;
Social variety. This is the most extensive category, as it has many tasks. Thanks to it, you can attract a large number of people to current problems or phenomena occurring in society. The main purpose is considered to be the humanization of a large number of people, as well as the new formation of everyday and moral values. This variety is divided into two more types. 1) advertising necessary to introduce and reinforce certain norms of behavior, 2) advertising demonstrating the image of the whole world. It aims to improve existing moral standards. For example, it describes not just the fact that one should not throw garbage on the street, but shows the whole overall picture, from which the consumer independently figures out and uses this.

Methods for implementing social advertising

Social advertising is a non-commercial area, for this reason it can be implemented and displayed in any form. These are mainly leaflets, banners, posters, postcards, badges, as well as many other paraphernalia. Social advertising can also be presented in the literary field, for example, writing a poem or short story.

The greatest impact can also be achieved using television commercials. In turn, they are divided into three categories. These include: staged videos, documentaries, and informational recordings.

The following areas are considered the most popular methods for implementing social advertising:

Oral advertising, transmitted via radio. With its help, each person builds his own visual picture or image that has a positive effect on the human subconscious;
Photography is also considered one of the elements of advertising distribution. Thanks to it, the text acquires greater authenticity, people develop a feeling of empathy for the image;
Social poster– a remedy with deep historical roots. With their help, you can show the whole depth, the whole meaning of the problem;
Leaflets are a specific genre and form of social advertising. They depict a photo along with text calling for a specific action.

The main topics depicted in social advertising are the following:

Safe performance of life. The following goals are being pursued: maintaining cleanliness in the city, preventive measures against crime, and focusing on the development of urban infrastructure.
Problems related to achieving equality, as well as social guarantees. This is used to solve problems such as respect for women’s rights, as well as the rights of older people, respect for elders, tolerance for people with disabilities, etc.
Problems related to the environmental situation. This includes chemical safety, promotion of ideas directly related to the rational use of natural resources;
Development of society in terms of education, change, change.

Social advertising topics and its application

Combating threats, preventing consequences, informing about good deeds and goals;
Declaration of values. The priorities are family, child, relationships of members of society to each other, career and happiness in personal life;
Creation. The desire to achieve an ideal state;
Psychotherapy of society. This topic is rarely used, only in cases where it is necessary to extinguish a negative emotional state;

As a social program, the focus of which is to promptly solve many problems of society;
As an element of the educational program, promoting issues of ecology, family, relationships within it, and many others.

Formation of a specific, personal, but humane position;
Translation of public priorities and values;
Involving a large number of people to participate in the social life of the whole country and even the whole world;
Humanization of the entire population, changing their attitude towards many objects and situations.

However, there are also some problems associated with social advertising that affect only government services and not consumers. This includes the financial side of the issue, since there are not always material resources for its production and further placement. In addition, social advertising can never be placed on one stand, leaflet, etc. with commercial advertising. And its last disadvantage can be considered the fact that it will not be possible to evaluate its effectiveness.

Customers of social advertising

Today, the main customers of social advertising are:

Public companies. For them, social advertising is considered one of the methods for implementing their ideas related to social changes or the promotion of certain social values. Among all the advertising of this type that occurs, it is the advertisements of public companies that are most often encountered;
Charity organisations. Their main activity is to provide assistance to people in need. Social advertising can help with this, which is why they produce it. The main direction and task is considered to be the collection of financial resources for needs;
Government agencies. They use social advertising for their own purposes, the main of which is to create contact between the state and society. Thanks to it, you can inform and communicate about the most important and pressing issues of our time, influence people's consciousness and their thinking. Because of this, government-sponsored social advertising can hardly be distinguished from the political variety of advertising.
Commercial firms. They use social advertising to develop and disseminate social responsibility programs of banking systems.

Social advertising groups

After the analysis, not only in Russia, but also abroad, it was possible to identify several thematic groups into which all social advertising can be distributed. This:

Advertising promoting a healthy lifestyle. It covers a large number of topics, including attitudes towards smoking, alcohol and drug use, as well as topics related to AIDS, proper nutrition, and sports. In addition, an important place in this category is given to environmental advertising. The main purpose of its display is to respect animals and vegetation;
Advertising aimed at creating law-abiding behavior. Most of the information in this category has a political connotation, since one of its tasks is considered to be the preservation of human freedoms, as well as the demonstration of his constitutional rights;
Patriotic advertising. As a rule, its demonstration takes place on holidays or sporting events, in connection with which it is necessary to unite the entire nation as a whole.

Impact of social advertising

It was already said a little higher that it will not be possible to accurately determine the effectiveness of social advertising. Firstly, too large an audience is consumers of information, and therefore it is impossible to track each person individually. Secondly, their change in habitual principles or change in actions in the behavioral model may be changed after watching the social video, but not for this reason.

However, studies have been conducted in which several dozen people were present. They differed from each other in absolutely everything - race, social status, demeanor, etc. Everyone was shown a public service announcement that touched almost everyone deep down. Thanks to this, it was possible to find out that social advertising is not a form of monologue broadcasting, but a channel of oriented communication. He works and interacts between society and various interests and ideas. It forces people to reflect on the situation and the current problem.

Social advertising is widespread, but only abroad. In Russia, the level of its effectiveness is low. According to the results of one of the surveys, it was possible to reveal that the majority of all people who took part in the survey did not notice social advertising at all. Another 20% believe that it is necessary to decorate the city, and not to encourage action. The rest of the respondents, 10%, responded that social advertising was beginning to annoy them. 70% of people could not remember a single slogan that they would have met on the street or seen in a television commercial. Every third person believes that social advertising is an unnecessary type of activity, and also that it has absolutely no impact on the formation of new values and attitudes.