RACISM MITIGATION AMONG MALAYSIANS THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS (PSAs)

Abstract

Public Service Announcement (PSAs) works as medium of communication to mass ranged of audience. In fact, PSAs have been utilized as a mechanism of informing and educating society on social cases and promotes behavioral changes. Roehm (2018) and Jolani et al.(2017) both indicate PSAs is a tool to educate people with the intention to urge positive action whilst increasing awareness level of the audiences on the highlighted issues. The social issues of racism in Malaysia still occurred even after celebrating it’s 62nd independence. As a multiracial and multicultural country, racism is a threat than can gives negative impact to the country’s national security, harmony and racial unity. Hence this study is to explore and discuss on Public Service Announcement (PSAs) and its applications to mitigate racism among Malaysians. The aim of this study is to propose a guideline on designing an impactful PSAs in order to cater social issues such as racism in Malaysia. This research will contribute as an additional knowledge for advertising agencies, designers and academic syllabus.