In the US public service announcement (PSA) are often used to raise awareness about specific issues to the public. They are broadcasted on radio, television or nowadays more often on the internet.
During the US electoral campaign 2008 many celebrities gathered together to do the 5 friends and 5 more friends campaign with the ironical slogan 'Don't Vote' to encourage especially young people to vote.
This encouragement of celebrities in politics is not new since many of them openly support and donate for their favourite Presidential Candidate. In Europe this is not common whatsoever.
Recently though, the idea of the '5 friends' videos has been modified by the 'Fondation pour l'innovation politique' for the European elections. In this video young people from different European countries speaking all EU languages try to convince their counterpart to vote.
Since it is not common for celebrities to really take part in political issues, I think it was a good idea to let young people speak to their counterparts, although I can't really say who might have more impact on young Europeans; alleged celebrities or their peers. Anyway, I think in the US it is more usual that young people look up to celebrities and use them as their rolemodels.
i think that young people should be made aware of the importance to vote and their ability to change things. I think the "5 friends" campaign is a good way to do so.
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