Before even watching this new reef PSA I am going to predict three things about it. First, it will have New Agey synth music. Second, there will be bold, white letters on a dark background (likely a san-serif, probably Impact). And finally, there will be a white narrator voicing over images of dark-skinned people harming the environment. There will be few (if any) images of affluent white people demonstrating indifferent conspicuous consumption. Why do I know this? Because those are the clichés of almost every ocean PSA/trailer I’ve ever seen.
Ocean PSA clichés
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So after review, I am sadly correct on all counts. Understand, I am not disagreeing with the emotional appeal of this particular PSA. I am in accord with the assessment that something is awry with spaceship Earth. And the production qualities are stellar—Earth-Touch did a first rate job with the footage and editing. But the narrative is flawed and the some of the imagery is as dubious as I’d imagined.
Shockingly, no. At least, not in the 2 minute version. Not a bad piece, really.
jebyrnes – We must not have watched the same PSA.
Hrm. Perhaps you watched the 12 minute one?
Let’s see.
That was in both the 2 and 12 minute versions.
You nailed it, Jason. I love the ocean realm but I’m continuously disheartened by the “romantic” efforts to protect our oceans through popular media.
Back in the early days…we dubbed these video efforts “the sunset videos” (i.e. they always ended with a dramatic warning and a sunset shot over the water).
Why is it that nobody would think to produce a modern TV series with the look, feel, and content of “the Jack Benny Show” but we continuously try to reinvent Cousteau…?
Here’s yet another “fantastic” ocean PSA
Might as well continue to collect more examples of bad ocean PSAs in the comments here. I found this one today. The first ~55 seconds are classic ocean psa cliche. After that, it’s a typical sequences of scenes with white people coming to the rescue.
The other characteristic of these vids is that they rely strongly on textual narration, usually in a bold, white font. This is no doubt a consequence of the underwater scenery, where lighter lettering is going to contrast better. But they rarely have a voice joining the unconnected sequences of charismatic megafauna.
Blue Horizons
New Agey music √
White lettering √
White people to the rescue √
Brown people harming the environment X
And in the event anyone wonders, I am as guilty of using these same cliches in my videos as everyone else. But now that I notice them, I am trying to be more sensitive to what images I use and how I use them.
Eric Eckl has a similar PSA critique going on over at his blog, Water Words That Work: A Flat Out Flop