You were once 16, maybe you should watch...

In the public service announcement, produced by the David Cornfield Melanoma Fund, is one of the most effective advertisements for bringing awareness that I 've ever come across. Produced around two years ago, the video, shown on YouTube, has received over 5 million hits.

The video's length is five minutes and four seconds long; this is the only downfall I see the short film having---regarding the target audience's attention span. It goes through several talking heads who have once been diagnosed with skin cancer or knows someone who has died due to the cancer. These are real life people with a story and a well thought focus to run throughout the psa. The title, "Dear 16-old-me," gives it all. Each person is talking to themselves, as if they could when they were 16. It has comedic appeal from a character to give humor; it gives sincerity from real life stories, and even though it gives sadness, it gives the viewer a hard hit to reality.

Comments left by people were thankful and inspired. This psa advertisement gave and is giving people a push to get themselves checked out for a dangerous cancer that affects many.

A plain-gray background is all you need behind a story of inspiration, the words and faces are everything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4jgUcxMezM