Sandy Hook Promise PSA Uses Emotion, Storytelling In School Violence Message
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The beginning of this PSA looks like an ad for school supplies — a new backpack and folders. But as the next student puts on his headphones, it becomes clear the spot is about something else altogether.
A student runs down the hallway, another uses her jacket to try to lock doors, another breaks windows with a new skateboard to let students escape. And finally, a girl hides in a bathroom stall, crying, texting "I love you mom," as we hear someone coming in.
The PSA is the work of Sandy Hook Promise, a non-profit formed by parents of the victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012. It tells viewers that school shootings are preventable when you know the signs and is part of the effort to help students, teachers and staff recognize when someone is in danger of hurting themselves or others.
Mark Hass is a professor of practice at ASU’s W.P. Carey School of Business and Cronkite School of Journalism. He joins The Show to talk about the emotional impact of the video.
