Ad Council Launching Healthcare Sign-Up PSA Campaign

The Ad Council has launched a new public service campaign, "Take Care, People," created by La Comunidad and Razorfish to let folks know about the March 31 deadline for enrolling in the new healthcare program.

Razorfish was an appropriate choice for the pro bono creative since fish figure in the PSAs.

The spots employ pets—dogs, cats, birds, fish—encouraging their owners to get health insurance.

The PSAs send viewers and listeners to GetCoveredAmerica.org to get help signing up.

The council points out that research shows that more than 80% of Americans don't know about the March 31 deadline for the uninsured to sign up or face a tax penalty. The campaign is targeted to a prime uninsured population of women, particularly Hispanic women, ages 18-34, many of whom own pets, the council points out. It will be in English and Spanish.

The council is looking to place the PSAs on a variety of media, and Mindshare, which is handling the placements, and has secured commitments from national cable nets, Spanish-language networks, movie theaters, national and syndicated radio, magazines, and outdoor and mobile outlets.

No broadcast outlets were cited—though that was likely because the council just did not have the sign-offs yet, said a spokesperson. A Fox spokesperson said it is on board. "We support the Ad Council and have approved this PSA to run on many of our networks," said a Fox spokesperson. "However, we have not received the creative yet. Once we do, it will go into rotation with our other PSA campaigns.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.