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Part Four: Social Marketing: A Different Slant on Message Objectives

Of major importance to the field of health communication is the Philip Kotler’s “social marketing” framework. Health communication has a mixed ancestry: while generally its roots are in psychology (social, perceptual and behavioral psychology) its other ancestor is in business and economics. Kotler took a business marketing model and applied it to community efforts for health and social change. Building on the work of others in the business world who developed the concept of the “marketing mix” Kotler describes ”4 Ps”: product price, place and promotion. This alliterative framework overlaps to some extent with that of McGuire but specifically details what aspects of the messages content should be included, especially in terms of:

The “Price” of a new behavior (not just as monetary but personal effort and other resources required…and perceived benefits of changing the behavior),

How best to describe ”Product” (e.g. the behavior change itself or the social or environmental change that one attempts to achieve),

The channels by which to send the message that should be used in terms of ”Place” (where a message can best reach someone in terms of a channel or program, and in what stage of life or time of year),

 And finally the overall Promotion (which is often referred to in social marketing as “media mix”: what best mix of print and broadcast etc. to used to initiate and sustain a campaign).

Some have added a fifth “P”, that of “Position”, indicating the specific comparison we can make between our product and that of another on the market (for example, the advantages of getting iron and protein from legumes and quinoa rather than red meat).

As an example, analyze the below anti drunk-driving piece from Kotler’s social marketing perspective:

Research Activity #4

EXAMINE TWO ADDITIONAL HEALTH COMMUNICATION PIECES BRIEFLY, FROM A MCGUIRE AND THEN A KOTLER PERSPECTIVE.  WHICH ONE PROVIDES A CLEARER AND MORE USEFUL EXPLANATORY MODEL, AND WHY?

§  Price: The price is others are waiting for you to make it home safely. If you choose to drink and drive, the cost would be not making it home and the loss associated with that and the experience that others would have.

§  Product: The message that Budweiser is trying to share with the audience is “Don’t Drink and Drive” – Make it home safe.

§  Place: I believe I first saw this commercial during a sporting event on television. This would be seemed to be most fitting since large numbers of alcohol are consumed during these events.

§  Promotion: The channel chosen was through video, which I agree was most effective. Other traditional print materials might have lost some of the impact of the video and would have be difficult to convey.

§  Position: It would appear Budweiser is attempting to convey a message that they care for their customers. They would like you to continue consuming their product over others, but you might feel drawn to Budweiser if you knew they cared about you.

Staying-Alive.Org Condom Campaign Commercial

§  https://youtu.be/cUPLzX77flU

§  Price: The message is showing a price of loss of life for single women who do not wear condoms while having sex.

§  Product: Demand that your partner wear a condom while having sex.  

§  Place: This commercial was aired in 2009 on a popular television channel aimed at targeting young single women in the US.

§  Promotion: I think the commercial convey a strong message towards to the audience and probably was the best choice. While you could make this into a print message, with would take a lot of explaining. Walking by seeing a man point a gun a women could be misinterpreted.

§  Position: This campaign was partners with MTV, which could be conveying the message they care about their audience more than their competitors.

§  Announce: At the end of the commercial it provided them with Staying-Alive.org website for more information.

§  Advise: It provided the message that females should demand their partners wear a condom while having sex.

§  Activate: I think this message had a strong motivation to activate females to make this behavior change. Having a man point a gun at your head is a pretty strong message.

§  Advocate: I think this campaign advocated for women to feel empower to minimizing their risk of HIV, by taking action and demanding their partners wear condoms.

Moms demand Gun Sense In America Campaign

§  https://youtu.be/QmTp1P4PN-k

§  Price: The message is show a cost of what future children might have to have to school to protect them, a bulletproof vest or bear the cost of loosing their child if more gun violence continues.

§  Product: The message is informing people to demand gun reform from their local politicians, who might not otherwise be motivated to do so.

§  Place: This ad was placed in a commercial and thought it was fitting. The somber music and the visual effects and spacing help covey a sense of disappointment. Trying to make this into print, might loose some of the appeal.

§  Promotion: This messaging is done by a advocacy group, that wants people to start demanding change. Compared to groups that think they should be the same.

§  Announce: The commercial announces who produced the message and provided them their website for further information.

§  Advise: The commercial advised the listener contact their congressman or women and demand gun reform today.

§  Activate: It used a message of do this or your child could start earing a bulletproof vest to school. Even if you haven’t been affected by gun violence, seeing your child in a bulletproof vest is pretty scary.

Capstone: Save the Salton Sea

The rapid deterioration of California’s largest inland body of water has implications for the health and well being of our neighbors, ourselves and other species that inhabit the region and the hemisphere. Although this problem has been recognized for more than two decades, it has continued to grow.

So…

What health communication messages would you suggest for taking this issue on?

Who would your target audiences be, and how would vary messages by different audience segments?

How would you brand your effort?

 The health communication messages that I would suggest for taking this issue on would be that the deterioration of the Salton Sea would uncover deadly toxins that are already causing health problems in children in nearby communities.  I would also emphasize that spending money now will save tens of billions of dollars in the future in human health, environmental and property values.

My target audience would be the nearby communities and I would segment the audience by parents, health and government officials and businesses.  Obviously the message to the parents would be the danger the deterioration poses on their children’s health.  The message to the health and government officials would be about making the decision to save the population from these deadly toxins and to make a smart economic decision now vs. a huge economic deficit in the future.   The message towards businesses would illustrate the deterioration of their business as the Salton Sea deteriorates, since everyone would be sick or move way to save their health.

I would brand my effort as an investment in future health and prosperity.  

Part Five: Branding

Branding is the process of pairing an image slogan or other stimulus with a product or practice until the two have become synonymous in the mind of the audience. The concept of “branding” derives from the discipline of marketing, with many years many of successful (e.g. Coca-Cola, Marlborough, Mercedes-Benz, Nike, Apple) as well as unsuccessful efforts.  Successes in branding “build relationships between consumers and products” or services that are being marketed.  Audiences eventually become familiar with a product and are reminded of it by seeing the image or hearing a slogan representing that product. One of the best examples of branding in health communication is represented by the long-standing condom promotion and HIV prevention program in Germany, “Macht’s mit: Gib AIDS keine Chance”.  Note that this was initially primarily delivered through billboards and posters; now they have a very impressive web presence as well. 

Examine this measles vaccine poster. Could/should this be better branded, and if so, how?

I believe that the current administration needs to be more consistent when talking about this terrorist group. By having multiple names for the same group of people, they will confuse the individuals listening.  This will most likely lead to  false assumptions and misunderstandings about the terrorist groups. I recommend that only one name be used in order to keep things consistent.

Measles Vaccine Poster

Part Two: Messages that convey motivation and persuasion

Whether the objective is to announce, advise, activate or advocate, the message’s motivational and persuasive contents emphasize change in individual attitudes and group norms with respect to a certain health issue while making the health issue (behavior, social issues and challenges, etc.) foremost in the target audience’s mind. Specific examples of applying activation objectives often derive from fear appeal messages: attempting to arouse fear in the audience by demonstrating to individuals the scary aspects of engaging in a certain behavior and not doing something to mitigate the damage that that behavior can cause. Fear appeal messages usually involve a scary or threatening image or feel to create the desired reaction and promote subsequent behavior change.

The Elaboration Likelihood Model developed by Richard Petty and John Cacioppo and Kim Witte’s Extended Parallel Processing Model provide excellent theoretical bases to frame messages that derive from motivation and persuasion objectives, especially those that appeal to fear. A problem with fear-based messages however is that they may cause maladaptive responses when an individual either does not find the image sufficiently threatening or conversely avoids the message (for example, when its images are overly gruesome). For example, The Partnership For A Drug-Free America’s campaign “this is your brain on drugs” has been criticized for engendering more curiosity than fear among teens in the target audience. Also, if the message is sufficiently threatening, the individual may lack the ‘efficacy’ or confidence to take actions that would eliminate the threat. Feelings of helplessness may actually cause the individual to avoid the message altogether. Therefore, fear messages must be used with caution.

However, other emotions can also be invoked which will help individuals remember a specific message and recall the facts and perhaps the reinforcement associated with the behavior change related to those evoke emotions. Humor, sympathy, excitement and other emotions can also create an association that may help an individual remember the importance of the behavior change. For example, contrast the “feel” of the some of the below messages, all of which have the same general purpose.

And these: http://www.bestmswprograms.com/10-brilliantly-creative-condom-ads/

Research Activity #2:

COMPARE THE FOLLOWING TWO SPOTS WITH RESPECT TO FEAR AND RESPONSE EFFICACY-RELATED CONTENT

https://jasonbiviano.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/health-effects-of-smoking1.jpg

https://twitter.com/nyc_dot/status/314067899079872514

Emotions can be evoked not only by the specific nature of the message but also by images, sounds, and other elements that have both an emotional and physical impact on an individual. For example, concordant and discordant musical notes and colors may contribute to a message oriented toward fear and anxiety on one hand or harmony and sympathy on the other. Individual colors may convey different feelings (Example 1; Example 2) though this may vary from culture to culture.  As musical chords mix different notes to create distinct feelings for different compositions, combinations of colors also vary as a function of the light or heat of a message (see here for more info about this).

In terms of sight and sound, which of the following 3 pieces do you think would create the strongest reaction in an audience?

Research Activity #3

LISTEN TO A VARIETY OF THESE SOUNDS. WITH REFERENCE TO 5 OF THE SOUNDS, GIVE A ONE SENTENCE DESCRIPTION EACH OF 5 DISTINCT FEELINGS THEY CONVEY AND COMBINED WITH 5 MESSAGES THAT SOUND AND FEEL COULD BE PAIRED WITH.

The speeding piece differs from the smoking piece in that it does have a human face, and it does allude to response efficacy. Not only is there a human face, it is the face of a child shown with two drastically different outcomes. I think that this is effective in terms of inducing fear for two reasons: 1) Whereas smoking is usually framed as a way that someone is harming their own health, this implies the way that children are vulnerable to the speeding habits of others, and 2) The image has an eerie feel without being overly gruesome or exaggerated. I think that this message will be processed much further than the smoking ad. The addition of speeds and survival rates implies how people can prevent this – therefore, response efficacy is high, making this a generally more effective ad. 

Of the three seatbelt safety pieces, I think that the second piece (rear passenger seatbelt) would produce the strongest (but not necessarily the most positive) reaction in an audience based on its sights and sounds. The second piece uses a song that has a perverted and twisted meaning by the end of the video. I think that the moment in which viewers realize the double meaning of the lyrics is a powerful one (again, many people may find it disturbing, but I think most people agree that it causes a strong reaction). Similarly, that video has the most graphic images. Whether people like it or not, seeing the gruesome reality of an accident like that will elicit a strong, even visceral, response. 

Activity 3: Sound Piano 117 GM 25 1 conveys a sense of innovation, and I could imagine it being used in a communication piece regarding new cutting-edge health technology and advances. 

Sound Record Scratch 2 N conveys youth and a care-free attitude; I think it would be paired well with ads showing teens that are avoiding smoking, drunk driving, etc. and having a good time still. 

Sound Dark strings 128 conveys darkness, death, and foreboding; I can imagine it being paired with images of the consequences of behaviors such as drunk or distracted driving. 

Sound Electric Bass in E Disco conveys movement, and I could see it being used in an ad for physical activity that encourages people to move and dance and have a good time. 

Part Two: Messages that convey motivation and persuasion

Whether the objective is to announce, advise, activate or advocate, the message’s motivational and persuasive contents emphasize change in individual attitudes and group norms with respect to a certain health issue while making the health issue (behavior, social issues and challenges, etc.) foremost in the target audience’s mind. Specific examples of applying activation objectives often derive from fear appeal messages: attempting to arouse fear in the audience by demonstrating to individuals the scary aspects of engaging in a certain behavior and not doing something to mitigate the damage that that behavior can cause. Fear appeal messages usually involve a scary or threatening image or feel to create the desired reaction and promote subsequent behavior change.

The Elaboration Likelihood Model developed by Richard Petty and John Cacioppo and Kim Witte’s Extended Parallel Processing Model provide excellent theoretical bases to frame messages that derive from motivation and persuasion objectives, especially those that appeal to fear. A problem with fear-based messages however is that they may cause maladaptive responses when an individual either does not find the image sufficiently threatening or conversely avoids the message (for example, when its images are overly gruesome). For example, The Partnership For A Drug-Free America’s campaign “this is your brain on drugs” has been criticized for engendering more curiosity than fear among teens in the target audience. Also, if the message is sufficiently threatening, the individual may lack the ‘efficacy’ or confidence to take actions that would eliminate the threat. Feelings of helplessness may actually cause the individual to avoid the message altogether. Therefore, fear messages must be used with caution.

However, other emotions can also be invoked which will help individuals remember a specific message and recall the facts and perhaps the reinforcement associated with the behavior change related to those evoke emotions. Humor, sympathy, excitement and other emotions can also create an association that may help an individual remember the importance of the behavior change. For example, contrast the “feel” of the some of the below messages, all of which have the same general purpose.

And these: http://www.bestmswprograms.com/10-brilliantly-creative-condom-ads/

Research Activity #2:

COMPARE THE FOLLOWING TWO SPOTS WITH RESPECT TO FEAR AND RESPONSE EFFICACY-RELATED CONTENT

https://jasonbiviano.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/health-effects-of-smoking1.jpg

https://twitter.com/nyc_dot/status/314067899079872514

Emotions can be evoked not only by the specific nature of the message but also by images, sounds, and other elements that have both an emotional and physical impact on an individual. For example, concordant and discordant musical notes and colors may contribute to a message oriented toward fear and anxiety on one hand or harmony and sympathy on the other. Individual colors may convey different feelings (Example 1; Example 2) though this may vary from culture to culture.  As musical chords mix different notes to create distinct feelings for different compositions, combinations of colors also vary as a function of the light or heat of a message (see here for more info about this).

In terms of sight and sound, which of the following 3 pieces do you think would create the strongest reaction in an audience?

Research Activity #3

LISTEN TO A VARIETY OF THESE SOUNDS. WITH REFERENCE TO 5 OF THE SOUNDS, GIVE A ONE SENTENCE DESCRIPTION EACH OF 5 DISTINCT FEELINGS THEY CONVEY AND COMBINED WITH 5 MESSAGES THAT SOUND AND FEEL COULD BE PAIRED WITH.

The first ad attempts to use fear based messaging to convince smokers that their habit is dangerous. However, the ad does not successfully elicit enough fear to compel the audience to take action, nor does it provide guidance on how to quit smoking.  The ad is stagnant and lacks an emotional draw that would motivate the audience to make a behavior change. Since the perceived threat is low, the target audience will view the ad and then move on without accepting the message or putting further thought into it.

The second ad effectively uses fear messaging to remind people to drive the speed limit. The image of a young child with half of her face shown as a skeleton, along with the concise and poignant wording, increases the level of threat. Additionally, the ad specifically states what people can do to avoid the negative consequence of speeding. Therefore, efficacy is high and perceived threat is high, thus there is acceptance of the message.

Research Activity #3:

1. “PIANO 117 AM 18 1” conveys concern and trepidation and could be used in an ad where a patient is waiting anxiously for his lab test results.

2. “ACOUSTIC POP MELODY” conveys hope after a difficult time and could be used in an ad to show a couple mending their relationship and taking actions to work together and support one another.

3. “STRAT AM 140 23 1” expresses loneliness and could be used in an ad focused on ending child homelessness by depicting a homeless child walking along the train tracks, hopelessly wandering.

4. “PIANO E FLAT MINOR CHORD” conveys a sense of sustained shock and could be used in a spot about overdosing, where a mother comes home to find her son has overdosed on pain medication.

Capstone: Save the Salton Sea

The rapid deterioration of California’s largest inland body of water has implications for the health and well being of our neighbors, ourselves and other species that inhabit the region and the hemisphere. Although this problem has been recognized for more than two decades, it has continued to grow.

So…

What health communication messages would you suggest for taking this issue on?

Who would your target audiences be, and how would vary messages by different audience segments?

How would you brand your effort?

As discussed in the articles, the risks of the continued deterioration of the Salton Sea are fairly severe. Arsenic, pesticides, and other toxic materials are slowly being released into the air as the Salton Sea continues to evaporate. An issue like this is can affect a large population, yet is something that not many are aware of. For this reason, I believe a fear based message or campaign would be most effective. The message would need to include information about why it is a threat to human individuals, as that will hold meaning for everyone and not just the people who have an interest in environmental protection. Additionally, the message will need to include a call to action, whether it be advising people of where they can get more information, or informing them of the steps they can take to help prevent further deterioration of the Sea. This will ensure that the message produces a moderate level of severity (by informing people that it affects everyone in the area) as well as a moderate level of efficacy (by providing people with the information they need to take action).

I think the most important target audiences would be the people living in the Coachella and Imperial Valleys. These are the people in closest proximity to the Salton Sea, and therefore the people who will experience the most serious health effects as a result of the Sea’s deterioration. Within these audiences, I would segment them into two groups - the civilian population, and government officials. The civilian population will have an interest in the issue primarily centered around their own lives - how it affects their health, or perhaps the health of their children. Government officials, on the other hand, will hold interests more closely related to the environmental affects of the deterioration of the Sea, economic effects it may have on the region, potential pollution hazards, etc. Messages for government officials would target the policy changes required to save the Sea, as well as perhaps some messages encouraging them to support the health and safety of their political constituents - turning it into a responsibility of their job, rather than an option.

I would brand the effort using catchy slogans that are easy to remember, such as the alliterative “Save the Salton Sea!” I would also pair it with a logo, perhaps something showing a colorful blue and green body of water with a contrasting black and grey fish skeleton - something to catch the attention of viewers and symbolize the change that needs to (and could) occur. 

Part Six: Edutainment 

“Edutainment” is defined either as education done in an entertaining style or entertainment with an educational message built in. A prime example of the former is the Soul City TV/Radio series that emphasizes sexual health, produced in South Africa, and the American PBS program “Sesame Street” that targets preschoolers. Examples of edutainment that comprise primarily entertainment but also include important health or social messages are popular songs about social issues (e.g. Bob Dylan’s “Hurricane”), and movies that focus on the power of the tobacco industry, either from a dramatic or comedic tone.

I think that this form of edutainment can be very effective for people who have an interest in rap music. As the principal mentioned in the interview, by engaging the students in the music they enjoy, he provides them a way to learn and share what they;re learning in a manner that engages them, rather than just through tests, quizzes, and essays. I think he also has a very good point when he discusses how it improves their relationship - it is important for students to have a trusting, close relationship with their educators if they want to succeed. Participating in rap writing and performing with his students allows him to appear more approachable and relate-able, and therefor more likely to be consulted when the students need help with something - school related or not.

Part Five: Branding

Branding is the process of pairing an image slogan or other stimulus with a product or practice until the two have become synonymous in the mind of the audience. The concept of “branding” derives from the discipline of marketing, with many years many of successful (e.g. Coca-Cola, Marlborough, Mercedes-Benz, Nike, Apple) as well as unsuccessful efforts.  Successes in branding “build relationships between consumers and products” or services that are being marketed.  Audiences eventually become familiar with a product and are reminded of it by seeing the image or hearing a slogan representing that product. One of the best examples of branding in health communication is represented by the long-standing condom promotion and HIV prevention program in Germany, “Macht’s mit: Gib AIDS keine Chance”.  Note that this was initially primarily delivered through billboards and posters; now they have a very impressive web presence as well. 

Examine this measles vaccine poster. Could/should this be better branded, and if so, how?

This poster has an appealing image of a baby, and uses a catchy slogan: “Stop measles with just one shot.” The baby draws attention to the poster because it is an “attractive” image for many parents or people who care about children. The slogan is a good branding slogan, but would be more effective if it were paired with the brand logo. A small logo appears in the corner of the poster, but isn’t easy to see and is difficult to interpret. It appears that the logo is a needle being inserted into scared measles bugs, but the bugs look more like small piles of poop. The message appears to come from the Commonwealth Department of Health, which is a source that can be considered an expert in the subject, and trustworthy to most people. Overall, while the poster itself is attractive, it doesn’t do much to further the brand - it needs a larger image of the logo, and perhaps a more appealing design on the logo.

ISIS Branding

Part Four: Social Marketing: A Different Slant on Message Objectives

Of major importance to the field of health communication is the Philip Kotler’s “social marketing” framework. Health communication has a mixed ancestry: while generally its roots are in psychology (social, perceptual and behavioral psychology) its other ancestor is in business and economics. Kotler took a business marketing model and applied it to community efforts for health and social change. Building on the work of others in the business world who developed the concept of the “marketing mix” Kotler describes ”4 Ps”: product price, place and promotion. This alliterative framework overlaps to some extent with that of McGuire but specifically details what aspects of the messages content should be included, especially in terms of:

The “Price” of a new behavior (not just as monetary but personal effort and other resources required…and perceived benefits of changing the behavior),

How best to describe ”Product” (e.g. the behavior change itself or the social or environmental change that one attempts to achieve),

The channels by which to send the message that should be used in terms of ”Place” (where a message can best reach someone in terms of a channel or program, and in what stage of life or time of year),

 And finally the overall Promotion (which is often referred to in social marketing as “media mix”: what best mix of print and broadcast etc. to used to initiate and sustain a campaign).

Some have added a fifth “P”, that of “Position”, indicating the specific comparison we can make between our product and that of another on the market (for example, the advantages of getting iron and protein from legumes and quinoa rather than red meat).

As an example, analyze the below anti drunk-driving piece from Kotler’s social marketing perspective:

Research Activity #4

EXAMINE TWO ADDITIONAL HEALTH COMMUNICATION PIECES BRIEFLY, FROM A MCGUIRE AND THEN A KOTLER PERSPECTIVE.  WHICH ONE PROVIDES A CLEARER AND MORE USEFUL EXPLANATORY MODEL, AND WHY?

McGuire’s Communication-Persuasion Model

Inputs

Source: Budweiser USA

Message: Don’t drink and drive.

Channel: Video commercial

Receiver: Consumers of alcohol

Context: An emotional appeal - loved ones and those who care about you are also seriously affected by drunk driving. Consider them when making the decision to (not) drive drunk.

Outputs

Tuning in: People who view this on television are exposed to it, so playing it during Superbowl or at times when people are likely drinking will increase the exposure.

Attending: It is easy to pay attention to the message because it is a short story, and not just a lecture.

Liking: The dog draws interest  to the commercial and the message.

Comprehending: The message is easy to understand thanks to the use of music, 

Acquiring: The skills needed to act on the message are simple decision-making skills, which most adults have - it is just a matter of whether or not they use them properly.

Agreeing: The message is generally agreed upon by social norms, so it is easy to agree with.

Storing: The emotional appeal of this message makes it easy to memorize.

Retrieving: The commercial is easy to remember at a later point, also due to the strong emotional connection many people may feel - especially if they are pet owners.

Deciding: Acting on the message occurs when a person has been drinking and recalls the message, and decides not to drive.

Acting: The actual event of acting occurs when the person does not drive drunk.

Reinforcement/Post-Action: Continuing to not drive after drinking.

Consolidation: This occurs when a person spreads the message to not drink and drive to their friends and family, as well as continues to make the behavior of not drinking and driving a part of their regular lifestyle.

Kotler’s 5 P’s

Price: Drinking and driving comes with the high cost of emotionally affecting loved ones. Avoiding drinking and driving has a good benefit of staying alive and well.

Product: The behavior of (not) drinking and driving.

Place: In this case, place could refer to the times and locations in which the ad is shown, such as during Superbowl or football games on TV, when there is a lot of drinking associated with the broadcast. It could also refer to the cultural place of drinking or driving, or the strong negative views of drinking and driving in social norms.

Promotion: This commercial promotes not drinking and driving, but in a way it also promotes Budweiser as a company that cares about its consumers and customers.

Position: This piece poses drinking and driving as the negative alternative to drinking and staying at a friend’s house overnight. The commercial advocates that people do not drink and drive.

Research Activity #4

Man Drinking Fat - NYC Health Anti-Soda Ad

McGuire’s Communication-Persuasion Model

Inputs

Source: NYC Health

Message: Cut out soda and other sugary beverages, replacing them with water or other healthy drinks

Channel: Video Commercial

Receiver: Whomever is watching TV at the time the ad is played

Context: The videos puts drinking sugary beverages in a very disgusting light, by replacing the sugary beverages with a man drinking fat.

Outputs

Tuning in: People who view this on television are exposed to it. Viewing television is a time when many people may be drinking or eating unhealthy snacks, so it will likely reach a good portion of the target audience.

Attending: The viewer pays attention to the message because of the mystery trying to figure out what the man is drinking.

Liking: The message is a little harder to like, because once the viewer realizes what he is drinking, it is very disgusting.

Comprehending: The message is easy to understand thanks to the imagery.

Acquiring: The skills needed to act on the message are knowledge of nutrition facts and labels.

Agreeing: The message is agreed with after a person understands the negative health value of soda.

Storing: The message is easy to memorize due to the disgusting imagery used in the commercial.

Retrieving: The commercial is easy to remember at a later point, also due to the strong imagery used.

Deciding: Acting on the message occurs when a person is choosing a drink and decides to choose water rather than soda.

Acting: The actual event of acting occurs when the person does not drink soda.

Reinforcement/Post-Action: Continuing to replace soda with water.

Consolidation: This occurs when a person spreads the message to not drink soda to their friends and family, as well as continues to make the behavior of drinking water instaed of soda a part of their regular lifestyle.

Kotler’s 5 P’s

Price: Drinking soda comes with the high cost of adding extra weight to your body.

Product: The behavior of drinking water or another healthy alternative instead of soda.

Place: In this case, place could refer to the times and locations in which the ad is shown. It could also refer to the cultural place of drinking soda - something that is seen as very normal in the United States.

Promotion: This commercial promotes drinking water or a healthy alternative instead of soda.

Position: This piece poses soda as a negative choice compared to water or seltzer water.

For this commercial, McGuire’s Communication-Persuasion Model provides a clearer explanation of the piece. There are a lot of various factors which relate to a person’s dietary decision-making, and the multiple inputs and outputs of McGuire’s model provide a much more in-depth explanation of how these factors may relate to the behavior.

A Healthy Smile - Children’s Oral Health Ad

McGuire’s Communication-Persuasion Model

Inputs

Source: The Ad Council, Healthy Mouths Healthy Lives

Message: Teach your children to brush their teeth 2 minutes, twice a day, and it could save them from a lifetime of mouth pain

Channel: Video commercial

Receiver: Parents of young children

Context: The ad frames the message in the context of all the difficulties of parenting, showing that teaching a kid how to brush is one of the easier, quicker aspects, therefore making parents more likely to do it.

Outputs

Tuning in: People who view this on television are exposed to it, so playing it during children’s TV shows would increase the exposure to parents.

Attending: The message uses fast comical speech, so it is easy to pay attention to.

Liking:.The humor in the message makes it easy to like.

Comprehending: The message is easy to understand, thanks to the simple call to action at the end.

Acquiring: The skills needed to act on the message are held by people who have been taught proper brushing techniques themsleves, or who have the money and time to access dental care services.

Agreeing: The message is agreed with by people who have basic knowledge of dental hygiene.

Storing: The humor in the message makes it a little easier to memorize.

Retrieving: The commercial is easy to recall and may be recalled when a parent goes to brush their own teeth or tries to dress their child - two things that were depicted in the commercial.

Deciding: Acting on the message occurs when a parent decides that the value of teaching their child how to brush their teeth is worth the time.

Acting: The actual event of acting occurs when a parent teaches a child how to brush properly.

Reinforcement/Post-Action: Continuing to help a child brush their teeth and learn proper brushing techniques.

Consolidation: This occurs when a person spreads the message on the important of teaching children how to brush their teeth, as well as continues to teach their own or other children proper dental hygiene..

Kotler’s 5 P’s

Price: Not learning how to properly brush teeth could lead to a lifetime of oral pain for a child.

Product: The behavior of brushing your teeth for 2 minutes, twice per day.

Place:Place could refer to the times and locations in which the ad is shown. It could also refer to the cultural norms surrounding good dental hygiene.

Promotion: This commercial promotes teaching children how to properly brush their teeth.

Position: This piece poses brushing teeth as the healthy way to prevent mouth pain. It advocates for oral hygiene education for children.

Part Three: Do’s and Don’ts of Motivation and Persuasion

A variety of methods can be used to improve the audience’s reception of motivation and persuasion messages. First, serious health issues cannot be treated too lightly, but at the same time the consequence of not taking an action should not be exaggerated. Credibility can be lost if people are shown dying from a fairly minor or obscure illness but also the message must make a realistic connection between a problem and its consequence. What mismatches between the feel and content do you see in these messages (choose 2)?:

Now try these two:

Analyze the potential effectiveness of one of these smoking control ads;

#6 is an ad about picking up dog poop and depicts a child eating the poop with the phrase “Children will put anything in their mouths.” This seems like a huge exaggeration, because while it is true that children like to put foreign objects in their mouths, it is highly unlikely that a child would eat poop. The smell would prevent them from trying it, and if for some reason they did put some in their mouth, the taste would immediately dissuade them from continuing.

#1 depicts a young girl with woman-like features (such as large breasts and curves) and aims to prevent people from committing statutory rape. This piece has an unrealistic connection between problem and consequence because the images are so comically (and disturbingly) edited.

Smoking Control Ads

The ad on the left is one of the more effective ads from the website. It presents a simple image that conveys the message that smoking takes years off your life. While the actual timeline depicts one cigarette as reducing a life by over 40 years, I think the image makes it apparent that it is symbolic, and not to be interpreted literally. The message is realistic, since most people know smoking generally reduces lifespan, and also more credible because it isn’t attempting to exaggerate a fact and deceive people into believing it as the un-exaggerated truth.

Child Abuse Prevention Ad

Part Two: Messages that convey motivation and persuasion

Whether the objective is to announce, advise, activate or advocate, the message’s motivational and persuasive contents emphasize change in individual attitudes and group norms with respect to a certain health issue while making the health issue (behavior, social issues and challenges, etc.) foremost in the target audience’s mind. Specific examples of applying activation objectives often derive from fear appeal messages: attempting to arouse fear in the audience by demonstrating to individuals the scary aspects of engaging in a certain behavior and not doing something to mitigate the damage that that behavior can cause. Fear appeal messages usually involve a scary or threatening image or feel to create the desired reaction and promote subsequent behavior change.

The Elaboration Likelihood Model developed by Richard Petty and John Cacioppo and Kim Witte’s Extended Parallel Processing Model provide excellent theoretical bases to frame messages that derive from motivation and persuasion objectives, especially those that appeal to fear. A problem with fear-based messages however is that they may cause maladaptive responses when an individual either does not find the image sufficiently threatening or conversely avoids the message (for example, when its images are overly gruesome). For example, The Partnership For A Drug-Free America’s campaign “this is your brain on drugs” has been criticized for engendering more curiosity than fear among teens in the target audience. Also, if the message is sufficiently threatening, the individual may lack the ‘efficacy’ or confidence to take actions that would eliminate the threat. Feelings of helplessness may actually cause the individual to avoid the message altogether. Therefore, fear messages must be used with caution.

However, other emotions can also be invoked which will help individuals remember a specific message and recall the facts and perhaps the reinforcement associated with the behavior change related to those evoke emotions. Humor, sympathy, excitement and other emotions can also create an association that may help an individual remember the importance of the behavior change. For example, contrast the “feel” of the some of the below messages, all of which have the same general purpose.

And these: http://www.bestmswprograms.com/10-brilliantly-creative-condom-ads/

Research Activity #2:

COMPARE THE FOLLOWING TWO SPOTS WITH RESPECT TO FEAR AND RESPONSE EFFICACY-RELATED CONTENT

https://jasonbiviano.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/health-effects-of-smoking1.jpg

https://twitter.com/nyc_dot/status/314067899079872514

Emotions can be evoked not only by the specific nature of the message but also by images, sounds, and other elements that have both an emotional and physical impact on an individual. For example, concordant and discordant musical notes and colors may contribute to a message oriented toward fear and anxiety on one hand or harmony and sympathy on the other. Individual colors may convey different feelings (Example 1; Example 2) though this may vary from culture to culture.  As musical chords mix different notes to create distinct feelings for different compositions, combinations of colors also vary as a function of the light or heat of a message (see here for more info about this).

In terms of sight and sound, which of the following 3 pieces do you think would create the strongest reaction in an audience?

Research Activity #3

LISTEN TO A VARIETY OF THESE SOUNDS. WITH REFERENCE TO 5 OF THE SOUNDS, GIVE A ONE SENTENCE DESCRIPTION EACH OF 5 DISTINCT FEELINGS THEY CONVEY AND COMBINED WITH 5 MESSAGES THAT SOUND AND FEEL COULD BE PAIRED WITH.

The first piece depicts a pair of lungs made out of cigarettes, with an group of cigarettes starting to burn and smoke in one area. The text on the image says “Bad Health Effects of SMOKING.” This piece attempts to use fear to convey the negative health effects of smoking to its viewers. According to the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM), the message components which influence message processing and outcomes are self-efficacy, response efficacy, susceptibility, and severity. This piece seems to emphasize the severity of smoking with the vivid imagery and text used in the message. This will increase the perceived threat a person feels when processing the message, and contribute to the efficacy of the message. However, if a person were to experience very high threat (due to a high perception of susceptibility or severity), the fear-based messaging would become less effective. It is possible that this could occur if a smoker thought the image was offensive or felt personally attacked for their behavior. The perceived efficacy when processing the image is influenced by self-efficacy and response efficacy. Because smoking is such an addictive behavior and driven by many biological processes related to drug addiction, response efficacy (the amount a person believes quitting smoking will prevent them from the negative health effects represented by the image) may be low. This reduces the effectiveness of a fear-based approach to smoking prevention.

The second piece depicts a child’s face, with half of it cut away, exposing the skull. The messaging on the picture says “Hit at 40mph, there’s a 70% chance I’ll die. Hit at 30mph, there’s an 80% chance I’ll live.” According to the EPPM, the severity of this message is high - a child’s death is very severe. Susceptibility could also be high, especially for a parent who views the piece and realizes that the child in the image could be their own. These contribute to the perceived threat of the image. The perceived efficacy of the message processing is influenced by the text “That’s why it’s 30,” which explains to viewers that driving 30mph could prevent a child’s death. Reducing speed limit by 10mph from 40 to 30 is an easy behavior change, and therefore results in high response efficacy and self efficacy.

Overall, fear based messaging seems more effective in the second piece - the high perceived efficacy and high perceived threat are well-balanced and would contribute to an effective fear-based messaging campaign.

Research Activity #3

PIANO 117 GM 25 1 conveys anticipation and could be used in a piece warning about the consequences of not wearing a seat belt.

DAMAGED conveys disorientation and could be used in a piece about drug addiction.

STRINGS AM 109 04 1 1 conveys urgency and could be used in a piece about speeding.

ACCORDION G MAJOR CIRCUS ... conveys boredom and could be used in a piece about boredom eating.