THE VERBAL AND NON-VERBAL SIGNS OF PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS (PSA) SEARCHED ON GOOGLE.COM
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THE VERBAL AND NON-VERBAL SIGNS OF PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS (PSA) SEARCHED ON GOOGLE.COM
By
AGUS WASKITA PRAMANANDANA
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LETTERS UDAYANA UNIVERSITY
ABSTRAK
Google.com merupakan situs terkenal yang menyediakan banyak informasi yang dapat diakses dengan media internet. Setiap iklan layanan masyarakat (ILM) di google.com mengandung tanda-tanda verbal dan non-verbal yang memiliki pesan dan fungsi. Penelitian ini menggunakan beberapa iklan layanan masyarakat dari google.com yang menyampaikan beberapa pesan yang membuat orang lebih sadar tentang kesehatan dan keselamatan di jalan raya. Pesan yang disampaikan dalam bentuk pernyataan yang menginformasikan pembaca yang biasanya dinyatakan dengan bentuk kata-kata dan gambar untuk membuatnya lebih menarik. Sebagian besar dari mereka menggunakan makna konotatif yang membuat orang lebih tertarik untuk tahu lebih banyak tentang pesan itu.
Kata kunci: iklan layanan masyarakat, google, pesan
There are many media which help us get new information in our daily life.
The information can be accessed through magazines, newspapers, books, and also from the internet. Internet is one of the easiest media to be found nowadays, because the internet can be accessed through our mobile phone or other gadgets. There is a site that is called google.com which is mostly use web browser in the World Wide Web, because almost all information can be accessed on that site. Google Inc. provides website google.com as the main product and provides Google+, Gmail, Google Translate, Google News, Google Chrome, and many other features.
In google.com itself there are many public service announcements (PSA) that raise the awareness of the reader to make them more care about their life and also their environment. Public service announcement (PSA) which is usually called public service advertisement is totally different from the objective of a 1
standard advertisement that is to market a product. It is intended to change the public interest by raising awareness of an issue, affecting public attitudes, and potentially stimulating action.
The most topics of PSAs are about health and safety while driving on the road because nowadays the people are careless with their health and safety while driving on the road. The health and safety topics of the PSA are chosen because both of them are the most critical part of the day. A typical PSA is part of a public awareness campaign to inform or educate the public about an issue such as obesity or safety way in doing something.
What are the verbal and non-verbal messages conveyed in the public service announcements (PSA) searched on google.com?
According to those problems, the aims of this study are to identify the verbal and non-verbal messages conveyed in the public service announcements (PSA) searched on google.com.
To get the goals of the research and find the answer to the problems, the research method was the correct way or the best procedure to do. In this study, the research method can be described as follows:
The data for this study were obtained from google.com because in google.com there are many examples of public service announcement (PSA) provided. Therefore it makes this study easier in finding the best examples that can give the best result.
From google.com there are two examples taken as data source of this study. They are: Public Service Announcement (PSA) by Denver Water Colorado about water consumption and Public Service Announcement (PSA) by Colorado State Patrol about tailgating on the road.
They were chosen as the data sources because they were focused on health and safety while driving on the road which is coherent with the topic of this study.
The data were collected using documentation method. The techniques which were used to collect the data consist of several steps. The first step was that the sources were searched for the search engine of google.com. And then the best public service announcements (PSA) were chosen in order to have the best example. Finally, the publisher of each PSA was identified, as well as the verbal and non-verbal signs of the PSA.
The collected data were analyzed qualitatively based on the theories proposed by:
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1. Peirce (1997:25) who explains the three modes of the relation between the signifier and the signified such as symbol, icon, and index
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2. Eiseman (2000) who gives explanation about meaning of the color of the PSA.
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5. Analysis of The Verbal and Non-Verbal Signs of Public Service Announcements (PSA) Searched on google.com
Picture 1 is a PSA by Denver Water Colorado which is about the best way in consuming water. The picture can be accessed by clicking the link below:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kPa4ZWZic YM/SMaTKttiZpI/AAAAAAAAAsc/5G9jw9cbwPI/s320/DenverWater.JPG&im grefurl=http://mysocalledgreenlife.com/2008_09_01_archive.html&usg=__m Cs85h-J3p4AH-
lWWakhyMMGLu0=&h=224&w=320&sz=26&hl=en&start=6&zoom=1&tb nid=vXkqd4Hpq_e8EM:&tbnh=83&tbnw=118&ei=cxQjUY_PGIaErQfomoH wAQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3DPSA%2Bby%2Bdenver%2Bwater%26um%3D 1%26hl%3Den%26tbo%3Dd%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D667%26tbm%3Di sch&um=1&itbs=1&sa=X&ved=0CDUQrQMwBQ
The verbal message of the picture 1 can be seen in the table as follows:
|
COMPONENT |
SIGNS | |
|
SIGNIFIER |
SIGNIFIED | |
|
Headline |
Use only what you need. |
This statement states that we should use water as much as we need. Don’t use it out of control. |
|
Signature line |
Denver Water |
Giving information about the publisher of this PSA. |
The representation non-verbal signs of the picture 1 can be seen in
the table as follows:
|
COMPONENT |
SIGNS | |
|
SIGNIFIER |
SIGNIFIED | |
|
Illustrations |
A big space of the PSA which provided but only a small space has been used by the publisher |
The publisher of the PSA intends that the people only use water only as much as we need it. |
|
A high place of the PSA |
The PSA put on the high place to get people’s attention that they are always interested in something, that is, eyecatching. | |
|
Representation of the white color of the font and with an orange background. |
The white color of the font is associated with light, goodness, innocence, and purity of the orange color | |
|
of the background which is associated with healthy food and stimulates appetite. Orange has very high visibility, therefore you can use it to catch attention and highlight the most important elements of your design. |
Picture 2 is a PSA by Colorado State Patrol which is about safety way in driving a car on the road. The picture can be accessed by clicking the link below:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://osocio.org/images/uploads/Colo rado-State-Patrol-anti-tailgating-
2_thumb.jpg&imgrefurl=http://osocio.org/category/road_safety/P30/&usg=__ zOrlLOACZKUBxD5zB6xptlGFLAA=&h=306&w=468&sz=37&hl=en&start =8&zoom=1&tbnid=l1rav3p7UUVn2M:&tbnh=84&tbnw=128&ei=PBQjUf WsBdGtrAfFlYDgCw&prev=/search%3Fq%3DPSA%2Bby%2Bcolorado%2Bs tate%2Bpatrol%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26tbo%3Dd%26biw %3D1366%26bih%3D667%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&sa=X&ved=0C DkQrQMwBw
The representation verbal signs of picture 2 can be seen in the table as follows:
|
COMPONENT |
SIGNS | |
|
SIGNIFIER |
SIGNIFIED | |
|
Headline |
Tailgating a truck can turn any car into convertible. |
When you are tailgating a truck on the road, it will damage yourself especially it can turn your car into convertible. |
|
Body Copy |
Give trucks more room |
When you are in the road, see the truck while driving, and just give them space to pass the road to make yourself safe. |
The representation non-verbal signs of picture 2 can be seen in the table below:
|
COMPONENT |
SIGNS | |
|
SIGNIFIER |
SIGNIFIED | |
|
Illustrations |
A red car of which the roof has been crashed like a convertible. |
The PSA intends to be aware of the effect of tailgating on the road, which will turn our car into convertible just like in the picture. |
|
A high place of the PSA. |
The PSA is put on the high place to get the people’s attention so that they are always interested in something, that is, eye-catching. | |
|
The white color of the background with a black color of the font. |
White is associated with light, goodness, innocence, and purity. The black color of the font is | |
|
Illustrations |
associated with power, elegance, and formality. | |
|
Red color of the car. |
The red color of the car brings images to the foreground. | |
|
Logo of Colorado State Patrol |
Giving information about the publisher of this PSA. |
From the previous discussion, there are some conclusions which can be drawn as follow:
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1. This study identified two Public Service Announcement (PSA) on the google.com which convey some messages that intend to make the people more aware of their health and safety on the road. The message itself is represented in verbal signs which is in the form of statement or texts and non-verbal signs in the form of picture or using some attractive colors.
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2. Most of the PSA in this study have informational function which are intended to remind the people of something as well as to remind the people of doing something safely and soundly. For example, safety on the road is like “do not tailgating” by Colorado States Patrol and about health which tells the safety way in using something like “use only what you need” by Denver Water.
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