Over the past several months the Leadership Conference Education Fund (LCEF) worked with CBS Kids, the Ad Council, and DDB Needham in a partnership to help students create public service announcements that promote our Nation's diversity and intergroup understanding. The pilot program, at two middle schools in Los Angeles, CA (one in West LA and one in South Central LA), engaged the students in thinking about the struggles and progress of the civil rights movement, discussed the nation's growing diversity, and challenged the students to become leaders in continuing our progress in improving intergroup relations into the 21st century.
The overall goal of the project is to provide students with the necessary tools and knowledge to talk to their peers constructively about diversity, prejudice and racism, and to share a positive vision of the future through televised public service announcements. LCEF's curriculum, designed specifically for this project, used real life experiences and brief dramatic readings of life stories of people whose lives have been affected by prejudice to help the students understand in a feeling sense the hurt caused by, and the arbitrary nature of, prejudice and discrimination. It then challenged them to think about the role they can play in improving intergroup relations and how to motivate other young people to be involved.
The Ad Council and DDB Needham provided the students with an introduction to the world of advertising and public service announcements. The students worked in cooperative teams that reflected the diversity of the class. DDB Needham staff directed the students in hands-on activities to review the overall goal of developing a PSA that communicates an anti-bias message, the importance of the PSA being simple, direct and clear, the need for a "big idea" and slogan, and how to sketch a storyboard.
CBS Kids coordinated the overall project and hosted a behind-the-scenes visit to CBS studios for the students. A panel of judges from LCEF, CBS Kids, Ad Council and DDB Needham selected two winning PSAs from each school. The winning concepts were tested with small focus groups of the targeted audience. CBS is producing the winning public service announcements and will air them on the local Los Angeles affiliate.
Based on an evaluation of the project by the participants, the curriculum and overall structure of the project is being revised. Given the project's success and the very positive feedback, from the students in particular, the project will be expanded to a national program in five cities. For the national project, LCEF will adapt the curriculum as needed and train teachers to implement the program in their schools. The winning PSAs will be produced as part of the Ad Council/LCEF's national anti-discrimination campaign.
CBS KIDS is a leading provider of quality, educational programming for children. CBS Network has a history of supporting such Ad Council campaigns as The Urban League, the Coalition for America's Children and LCEF's anti-discrimination campaign. Lucy Johnson and Brian O'Neal are coordinating the project for CBS Kids.
The ADVERTISING COUNCIL has been the leading provider of public service advertising in America for more than 50 years. The Ad Council currently represents more than 40 public service campaigns, the majority of which focus on health, education and social well-being of children in America. Murray Gaylord and Linda Johnson Blake are providing leadership for the Ad Council.
DDB NEEDHAM is an independent subsidiary of DDB Worldwide Communications and is dedicated to being a premier marketing and advertising resource directed to youth and family markets. It is an expert at staying ahead of youth trends and utilizing proprietary research tools and integrated resources. The DDB Needham team is led by Jill Baldauf.
