Societal and cultural examination of public service advertisements of a society in transition

Although public service advertisements (PSAs) can be viewed as either change agents or reflections of concerns about societal needs, there is little research on this topic. Rapid changes in newly industrializing countries have apparently brought about several negative consequences. In this study, we used multiple methods for exploring PSAs in Thailand to identify important societal needs. Furthermore, we examined variations in attitudes towards specific public service advertising themes using demographic and cultural variables. Through both naturalistic inquiry and a large-scale survey of 1756 respondents, we found that the priority placed on safety and social needs in the Thai culture was clearly reflected in PSA themes and messages. In addition, attitudes towards PSA themes were found to vary by education, age and traditional values, but not by religion. Propositions and suggestions for future research are also provided in the final section.