Mystic Valley NAACP Debuts PSA

TV commercial titled “Statistic” aims to open eyes and minds with positive message

An eye-opening TV commercial is about to break, and nearly 20 Medford, MA High School students will become the collective face of a powerful message.

The black & white commercial called “Statistic” begins with an unexpected opening line. While three African-American young men look directly at the camera, one says, “I am a statistic.” He continues with, “I am the one out of three who will go to college.”

Next we see four young African-American men. Three of them say, “I am the three out of four who don’t do drugs.” The commercial continues with progressively larger groups of young African- American men articulating other positive statistics about their demographic.

The goal is to increase self-confidence in young African-American men while dispelling some preconceived opinions that may exist in the general public. All of the statistics quoted are factual and have been obtained from sources such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Education, among others.

Atty. Osborne, Mystic Valley NAACP President, said, “When asked if the branch could support this type of public service annoucement project we responded immediately, yes. At a time when too many negative images of young African-American men flood our airways we are ecstatic to have commissioned this high quality factually accurate positive image of young black men.”

The commercial was produced by Jack McGoldrick, President and Chief Creative Officer of McGoldrick Marketing. “You can’t argue with cold hard facts, and that’s what this commercial is about… using the truth as evidence that young black men are important, “ said McGoldrick. “And it took a village. This commercial would never have happened without all the young men who came forward to act in the spot, and more than a dozen other dedicated Medfordites doing what it took to make it happen. Special thanks to Nick Tucci, Assistant Principal at Medford High School, who was instrumental in getting the word out to the student actors.”

Team Medford, an initiative of the Health Department with offices at Medford City Hall, also played a big role in the production by providing research assistance and organizational help during and after the shoot, with Jemima Valdouin wearing several hats.

– Submitted by Neil Osborne, President, MVA Branch NAACP