The route to improve the effectiveness of negative PSAs

Jingjing Ma, Zichuan Mo and David Gal

Journal of Business Research, 2021, vol. 123, issue C, 669-682

Abstract: To encourage people to behave in a more socially responsible or healthy way, many public service announcements (PSAs) dramatically illustrate the dire consequences of undesirable social or health behaviors. However, although informative, such negatively-framed PSAs can generate unintended consequences (e.g., a bad mood, low message acceptance). In this research, we investigated two approaches to improve the effectiveness of negatively-framed PSAs: (1) mood elevation and (2) self-affirmation. Using three studies with large samples of consumers, we found that adding mood-elevating or self-affirming elements to a negative PSA can be an effective way to enhance message acceptance. This is especially the case for recipients currently engaging (vs. not engaging) in the undesirable behaviors. Additionally, we designed mood elevation methods that can be implemented in PSAs in practice.

Keywords: Public service announcement (PSA); Mood; Identity threat; Self-affirmation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:123:y:2021:i:c:p:669-682

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.10.028

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