PSA (Public Service Announcement) | Meaning & Examples
A PSA (or public service announcement) is a professional TV or radio ad that raises awareness about a social, environmental, health, or safety issue. Most PSAs are made by government agencies or nonprofit organizations. PSAs have covered topics like car safety, voter registration, Alzheimer’s awareness, and more.
Many PSAs nowadays are also published on YouTube and other online platforms as the main broadcasting format or to supplement a TV ad campaign.
PSA also has an informal meaning in online communication. Social media users sometimes preface posts with PSA when they’re sharing an important update or advice (e.g., “PSA: Tonight’s event is rain or shine, so bring an umbrella”).
- Plural PSA: The creators of Grey’s Anatomy have aired a variety of PSAs after episodes about serious topics.
- Possessive PSA: The PSA’s main purpose was to discourage vaping.
It’s easy to mix up plurals and possessives with initialisms and acronyms, but the QuillBot Grammar Checker can help you write them correctly.
Public service announcement meaning
A public service announcement, or PSA, is a professional ad that alerts the public about an urgent issue or epidemic. Most PSAs are short videos (30–60 seconds long) on TV, social media, YouTube, and other public platforms. A PSA’s purpose is to raise public awareness, inspire people to take action, or change public behavior.
PSAs take a variety of forms, but they usually have these components.
- A slogan (a short catchy phrase) that communicates the main message (e.g., “Only you can prevent wildfires” from the Smokey Bear Wildfire Prevention campaign)
- A short script (usually 60 seconds or less) with details about the issue
- Graphics that illustrate the problem or the solution (e.g., people camping and building campfires in Smokey Bear PSAs)
- A call-to-action about what viewers should do after watching the PSA
- Details about who made the PSA (e.g., the National Association of State Foresters)
- Contact information—such as a website or phone number of the organization sponsoring the PSA (e.g., “Learn more at smokeybear.com”)
A PSA is usually part of a larger content strategy or media campaign, which might include a website, social media posts, a hashtag, pamphlets, and ads on billboards.
Most of the national PSA campaigns in the US are affiliated with the Ad Council, a nonprofit organization specifically devoted to creating PSAs. The Ad Council creates PSAs in partnership with corporate and nonprofit sponsors.
Public service announcement examples
The chart below includes examples of the most well-known PSA campaigns in the US.
| PSA campaign | Description | Sponsors |
|---|---|---|
| Smokey Bear Wildfire Prevention | A cartoon bear named Smokey educates people about campfire safety | U.S. Forest Service, National Association of State Foresters |
| Rock the Vote | Celebrities, athletes, and musicians encourage newly-eligible voters to register and vote | Rock the Vote |
| Rituals We Share | Athletes share a ritual that improves their mental health and encourage others to do the same | Professional sports leagues (e.g., the NFL, MLB, NASCAR) |
| Take a Bite out of Crime | McGruff the Crime Dog (a cartoon bloodhound) provides crime prevention tips that kids can share with their parents | Ad Council, National Crime Prevention Council |
| Assume That I Can | Real people with Down Syndrome share details about their lives in order to challenge harmful stereotypes | Down Syndrome International |
| Tear the Paper Ceiling | Skilled workers share their stories about obtaining skills through alternative routes to promote skills-based hiring rather than degree-based hiring | A coalition of many organizations spearheaded by the Ad Council and Opportunity@Work |
| The More You Know | In a variety of 30-second clips, different celebrities share tips and advice related to the greater good (e.g., John Legend talks for 30 seconds about how to be a good caregiver) | NBCUniversal |
PSA meaning slang
PSA sometimes has a slang meaning. For example, in Instagram captions and text messages, people sometimes start an important update with PSA. Even if a layperson is posting a video about an important social issue on TikTok or YouTube, it’s technically not a PSA unless it’s professionally produced.
In some cases, people use PSA as hyperbole for information that isn’t legitimately urgent but that they’d like people to notice nonetheless.
PSA: The roads in Pawnee are very icy today. Stay safe out there!
On social media, people sometimes write “the more you know” when they’re sharing a random fact (e.g., “I was today years old when I learned that the Eiffel Tower gets taller during the summer. #themoreyouknow”). Many platforms even include an emoji with the logo. 🌠
Frequently asked questions about PSA meaning
- What does PSA in text mean?
-
PSA in text messages means “I’m about to say something important.” A PSA, or public service announcement, is a professional TV or radio ad about a public health or safety issue.
In text messages, PSA has a figurative rather than a literal meaning. For example, if someone texts “PSA, we’re getting 4 inches of snow tonight,” the message isn’t an actual PSA.
Sometimes people start text messages with PSA to emphasize the importance of what they are about to say or to be hyperbolic (i.e., exaggerate the importance of something trivial).
When you’re curious about other slang words in text messages, QuillBot’s free AI Chat can tell you what they mean.
- What is the meaning of PSA in business?
-
The meaning of PSA in business is “professional services agreement,” which is a contract that outlines the work, timeline, and costs for a project that a business is paying someone to do.
In other contexts, PSA means “public service announcement,” which is a formal, professionally made video about an urgent issue that affects public safety, health, or well-being.
When you’re curious about what initialisms like PSA mean in different contexts, QuillBot’s free AI Chat can give you quick and detailed answers.
- What are some text slang words?
-
Some text slang words are:
- LOL: “laugh out loud”
- LMAO: “laughing my ass off”
- IDK: “I don’t know”
- FYI: “for your information”
- FOMO: “fear of missing out”
- GOAT: “greatest of all time”
- TL;DR: “too long; didn’t read”
- AFK: “away from keyboard”
- PSA: “public service announcement”
Ask QuillBot’s AI Chat if you’d like to learn more text slang words.
- What’s the difference between acronym vs initialism?
-
Acronyms and initialisms are both abbreviations that use the first letters of words in a phrase; the difference is in their pronunciation.
Technically, acronyms are pronounced as words (e.g., “NASA”or “NATO”).
Initialisms, on the other hand, are pronounced letter by letter (e.g., “FYI,” “PSA,” or “BBC”).
If you need to create an acronym or initialism, try QuillBot’s free AI acronym generator.
Cite this Quillbot article
We encourage the use of reliable sources in all types of writing. You can copy and paste the citation or click the "Cite this article" button to automatically add it to our free Citation Generator.
Routh, N. (2025, August 05). PSA (Public Service Announcement) | Meaning & Examples. Quillbot. Retrieved August 11, 2025, from http://qbot.seotoolbuy.com/blog/definitions/psa/
