Paul Rudd, A “Certified Young Person”?

YouTube. The social media platform that has been saturated with videos since it became popular in the year 2012. It has all sorts of videos varying from how-to tutorials, vlog style, comedy, challenges, and anything else you can imagine in between. There are so many ways to create on the site and one interesting use is PSAs or Public Service Announcements. The purpose of PSAs are to bring awareness and change public attitudes and behavior towards a social issue. The governor of New York recently came out with a PSA on wearing masks in public during the pandemic and he got none other than Paul Rudd to deliver the message.

The video very bluntly targets millennials as the audience who needs to hear the message and while it is an announcement they want the public to take seriously, they produced a video that brought humor to the topic. By using language with common slang known to our generation, even when used in the wrong context, he catches our attention with our own humor. They use Paul Rudd because he has influence in the generation they’re targeting and can bring relevance to the message. In other words, he passes the “vibe check”. In my opinion it works; I would wear a mask for Paul Rudd! I think humor is a great way to get your message across to both of the younger generations, millennials and Gen Z.