Modern public service advertising in Russia and the United States: topics and functional specificity

On the basis of scientific publications of Russian and American researchers the author reveals content and functional features of modern public service announcements and ads in the USA and Russia, offers a definition of the public service announcement as a form of advertising communication, ident ifies its general and special functions (educational and intellectual), distinguishes a set of motivations th a t explains the targeting factors. Dominant parameters of public interest announcements and ads, the role of the state in their production, the channels of their distribution that might raise the amount of mass addressees, efficiency of socially important conten t delivery as well as public acceptan ce patterns are in the focus of attention. The author ’s observations and analysis of social advertisin g posters in the USA and Russia are presented as a set of topics that reflects the involvement of both countr ies in the global issues discussions and natio nal peculiarities in their consideration. The conclusion states correlation between topical content and extralinguistic factors which explains qualitative differences between public service announcements and ads in the USA and Russia.