Spotlight on Public Service Announcement

A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge, with the objective of raising awareness, changing public attitudes and behavior towards a social issue. In the newspapers King Features have donated comic strip characters in the form of free strips, which endorsed causes and organizations that would fight polio, promote buying war bonds or show support of public charities. Newspapers donated free space for these announcements, especially during fund drives.

Defense Bonds

In World War II, Defense Bonds were issued to help support the costs of the war effort. Phil Davis illustratied some ads urging people to buy government Defense Bonds.

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  Mandrake the Magician
  by Phil Davis

War Bonds

The Defense Bonds were renamed to just War Bonds after the atack of Pearl Harbor. The Victory War Bonds campaign (campaign to sell war bonds) ran from 1941 to January of 1946. War Stamps could be saved and traded in for a war bond. In the strips of Mandrake the Magician (and other newspaper strips) there are often small "stamps" glued into a panel that encourages people to buy Savings Bonds and Stamps.

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  Mandrake the Magician

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  stamps in strips

March of Dimes

In about 1968 the March of Dimes ran PSAs for newspapers using known comic strip figures.

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  Mandrake the Magician

The Veteran’s Administration

The Veteran’s Administration ran PSAs for newspapers (1970 - 1984) using known comic strip figures. The PSAs highlighted some of the ways the VA could help veterans in episodes of 'So says the VA...

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  So says the VA...
  Mandrake the Magician

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  So says the VA...
  Mandrake the Magician

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