The PSA I chose to respond to is Fatherhood Involvement — Kid Again.

The video is merely 31 seconds long, but in the 31 seconds I was able to both receive and relate to the PSA’s message. Watching the video, it includes the very-short story of three fathers. One in a park, one window shopping, and another bouncing on a trampoline. But the key in the video is that we don’t know they are fathers yet. As it starts, the video begins with a man around the late 20’s-mid 30’s age range seeming to have an exciting time rocking back and forth on a spring rider at a park. The scene then cuts to a concerned looking mother pulling a stroller, which we can assume to hold her child, closer. Then the next man appears smearing is face into the window of what looks like a corner-store. Nothing much happens here other than said man making faces, and a cut to another man giving the original man concerning looks; looks like “what are you, twelve?”. Finally, the last man is observed bouncing, in jeans a shirt and a tie, on a trampoline by his neighbor.

After the three “background stories” are established, it cuts back to the man in the window, rather a little girl on the other side of the window laughing at his ridiculous faces. Then the video cuts to the man on the trampoline jumping over a kid who is also jumping and rolling around on said trampoline. Finally, across the man in the park is another kid who is equally as excited as the man accompanying him on the spring riders. Without audio, the most important part of the video rolls in at the end. A phone number, 877-4DAD411, and a link, fatherhood.gov, appear on the screen. By the end of this video, we can conclude that each of the men were the fathers of the respective children in each of the stories. The message can then be derived from the title in addition to each father’s actions. The message of the clip, at least the message I received, is that the most successful fathers aren’t the ones who spoil their kids, or let them have or do anything they want, but the ones who meet their kids on their own level; and whether it be legitimate or not, the same fathers share the interests of their children. As in the clip, we can assume that none of the fathers’ actual hobbies were the actions we’ve observed: bouncing on a trampoline, riding a spring rider, or making silly faces in the window. We have to assume the fathers enjoyment came not from the activity itself, but from doing it with their children. The message is about fathers being involved with their children, not just buying them materials or taking them out and letting them run wild.