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The current research examines the interactive effect of consumers' moral identity and risk factor stigma on health message effectiveness. The authors theorize that engaging in advocated health behaviors has moral associations; however, a stigmatized risk factor in a message "taints" the morality of the advocated health behavior. Thus, consumers with high (vs. low) moral identity are more likely to comply with health messages when risk factor stigma is low, and this positive moral identity effect is undermined when risk factor stigma is high. The authors test stigma's threat to moral identity by measuring defensive processing (Studies 1 and 2) and the attenuating effect of self-affirmation on the negative effect of stigma (Studies 3 and 4). They apply the stigma-by-association principle to develop and test a messaging intervention (Study 5). The studies suggest that, depending on whether a health message contains stigmatized risk factors, marketers could employ a combination of tactics such as activating moral identity, offering self-affirming message frames, and/or highlighting low-stigma risk factors to bolster message effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A national survey (n = 500) was administered in March 2020 at the peak of COVID-19 uncertainty to access parents' perceived abilities to protect children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the threat/efficacy matrix in Witte's (1992) extended parallel processing model (EPPM), parents' behavioral intentions to protect children from coronavirus and their perceived COVID-19 knowledge levels are examined based on their positions within the matrix. The results indicated that (1) there is a positive relationship between the perceived threat of COVID-19 to parents and to their children; (2) parents' behavioral intentions and knowledge levels varied depending on their perceived threat/efficacy levels; (3) perceived threat level was the bigger motivator to use channels for COVID-19 information. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using content analysis, this study examined the effects of several messaging strategies in YouTube videos promoting human papillomavirus vaccines in Korea. It analyzed a total of 201 videos, focusing on five message strategies-temporal framing, narrative format, gain-loss framing, emotional appeals, and message sensation value. The analysis revealed that the creators of these YouTube videos frequently utilized all of these strategies, except for emotional appeals. It also showed that present-focused framing was effective in eliciting positive responses from viewers, and not including gain-loss framing was more effective in provoking responses. Meanwhile, message sensation values were found to increase both positive and negative viewer responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health communicators in the United States face substantial challenges in their efforts to increase parent uptake of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine for their children. One major set of challenges involves low levels of trust in medical science behind vaccination safety and effectiveness, pharmaceutical companies who produce these vaccines, and government health agencies who promote vaccination. We conducted a two-wave randomized experiment (N = 1,000 at time 1, t1, N = 803 at time 2, t2) to test whether messages designed to convey the expertise, trustworthiness, or caring/goodwill of a governmental source of information (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) increased perceived source credibility, increased parent intentions to vaccinate their children, and/or reduced vaccine hesitancy. We found no support for any of the study's original, pre-registered hypotheses. However, post-hoc analyses reveal a variety of promising directions for future work on strategic messaging to increase source credibility in the context of vaccine hesitancy. A message designed to convey source expertise produced greater perceived caring/goodwill among parents overall. Furthermore, among parents who were vaccine hesitant at baseline, a message originally designed to convey source expertise produced greater perceived trustworthiness and reduced vaccine hesitancy among this group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 2 (message format : story vs. nonstory) × 2 (message sidedness : one sided vs. two sided) between-subjects experiment tested the effectiveness of narrative communication as a potential tool for correcting misinformation about e-cigarettes. Results revealed that stories were more emotionally involving and engaging than nonstories but did not reduce counterarguing when used as correctives. The study found that prior experience of e-cigarette use moderated the interaction between message format and message sidedness. For participants who had never used e-cigarettes, the one-sided story was favored. However, for participants who had smoked e-cigarettes before, the advantages of the one-sided story disappeared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although recent streams of research have suggested that emotions play a key role in generating framing effects, little is known about the affective dimension of gain and loss framing and its potential impact on persuasion. The current study adopted a meta-analytical approach, synthesizing over 30 years of literature (k = 25, N = 5,772), to investigate this issue. The results indicate that message frame type directs the emotional response elicited in the audience, with gain frames inducing positive emotions (d =.31, p =.02) and loss frames inducing negative emotions (d =.22, p =.001). In turn, the experience of positive emotions enhances the influence of gain frames (b =.18, p =.045), whereas negative emotions augment the effects of loss frames (b = −.70, p =.01). These findings confirm that emotional responses may offer a pathway through which gain- and loss-framed messages exert persuasive influence. The study integrates the results with the emotions-as-frames perspective and proposes several promising avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a resource-matching perspective, this paper tests the effects of including diagnostic product information (DPI) in advertising using a Taiwanese sample. It is proposed that the effectiveness of DPI is contingent on message combinations and individual differences. This study showed that one piece of DPI (consensus) enhanced ad message involvement and improved ad and brand evaluations, whereas two pieces of DPI (consensus and comparative) did not further enhance involvement or improve evaluations. In addition, individual differences in need for cognition (NFC) moderated the effectiveness of DPI. DPI led to greater ad message involvement and more favorable ad and brand evaluations only for participants high in NFC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Code switching, the use of mixed-language expressions, is gaining prominence in advertising targeting linguistic minorities. Two studies investigate the existence of linguistic rules governing the use of code switching and identify situations in which those rules have a greater impact on persuasion. The studies extend Myers-Scotton's 1995 model of code switching by revealing an interaction between linguistic correctness and type of processing. More specifically, breaking the linguistic rules of code switching results in less persuasive messages but only when consumers process the ads in a highly data-driven mode. When consumers do not engage in highly data-driven processing, breaking linguistic rules does not influence persuasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Market segmentation is a construct that has existed in the marketing literature for the past fifty years and perhaps longer in practice but without a label. During that time segmentation has received considerable interest from researchers in the marketing discipline and a number of different perspectives have contributed to its development as it is now understood. This paper identifies these differences of perspective. Nevertheless, from the earliest construction to its present position fundamentally little has changed and the concerns raised in its practical application remain. Furthermore, at a base level it can be argued market segmentation is commonly understood. However, under different conditions with different dimensions the challenge to segmentation lies, paradoxically, in a broadening of the heterogeneity that the approach was designed to handle. This conceptual paper adopts a social constructionist stance to examine this central tenet of marketing theory and practice. Thought trials are conducted through conjecture and compared to notions of self and group identities with the purpose of establishing a socially constructed understanding of segmentation. Implications for theory building research and marketing practice are drawn from the conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on Grice's (1975) theory of "conversational implicature," we propose that consumers will react favorably to unusual color or flavor names (e.g., blue haze or Alpine snow) because they expect marketing messages to convey useful information. If the message is not informative or does not conform to expectations, consumers search for the reason for the deviation. This search results in additional (positive) attributions about the product, and thus, a more favorable response. The results of a series of experiments provide empirical support for our proposal and rule out some alternative explanations for the success of ambiguous naming strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines community attitudes of Australians towards gender portrayal in advertising. Despite some well-publicised cases involving sexually provocative billboards, we find that gender portrayal in advertising is not of major concern to many Australians. We also examined the relationship between attitudes to gender portrayal and Arnott's (1972) Female Autonomy Inventory, a measure of feminist consciousness. Ford and LaTour (1996) tested a model of attitudes toward gender portrayal in advertising that found an unambiguous relationship between attitudes to female autonomy and the perceived offensiveness of the portrayal of women in advertisements. Our study, in contrast, suggests that the relationship is more complex. While one group of high female autonomy respondents (that we labeled "Feminist Pessimists") rated the offensiveness of the portrayal of women in advertising very highly, another high female autonomy group (labeled "Feminist Optimists") did not. Hence regulatory bodies may treat complaints on stereotyping in advertisements from these groups in different ways and advertisers may modify their messages for maximum effect. Differences in the findings between this study and Ford and LaTour's are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research demonstrates that rhetorical figures differentially affect the extent of ad processing. Specifically, tropes (a type of figure) deviate more from expected language use than schemes, with the greater deviation yielding more extensive ad processing. We extend previous research in two ways by focusing on the incongruity differences that exist between schemes and tropes. Study 1 uses syndicated data (Starch readership scores) to test how figures combine to affect the extent of processing. Results show that when figures leverage unique mechanisms (i.e., schemes and tropes), their combination yields incremental processing gains. Alternatively, when figures leverage redundant mechanisms (e.g., multiple tropes), their combination yields no incremental processing. Study 2 is an experiment that tests how figures separate in affecting the focus of ad processing. Results show that schemes generate a generalized focus on the entire ad, including both ad-stylistic and message-related aspects, while tropes generate a more selective focus on message-related aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the greatest challenges in advertising health-related information is overcoming the target audiences' self-positivity bias (i.e., the tendency for people to believe that they are invulnerable to disease). In this article, we show that the self-positivity bias hinders message processing, and we demonstrate that message cues can reduce this bias and engage people in more precautionary thinking and behavior. We identify the process by which risk-behavior cues provided in the message affect people's estimates of their vulnerability (self-risk estimates), depth of message processing, attitudes, and behavioral intentions. We test and find support for our theory in three studies that specify the types of risk behaviors that make the contraction of a disease seem easy versus difficult (study 1), that examine their interactive effects with the number of risk behaviors that are enumerated (study 2), and that delineate the underlying process by which these effects manifest (study 3). We demonstrate that the self-positivity bias acts as an a priori hypothesis on the basis of which people process and test incoming risk-behavior information, as would be predicted by confirmatory hypothesis testing theory. Our findings affect the theoretical understanding of how memory- and message-based factors work in opposing ways and suggest a more comprehensive framework for understanding memory- versus message-based judgments. Our results also have implications for media strategy and public health policy by differentiating between commonly used risk-behavior messages that are beneficial to the communicator's goals (e.g., increase compliance) and those that are detrimental to the communicator's goals (e.g., decrease compliance). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research suggests that marketing communications create expectations that influence the way consumers subsequently learn from their product experiences. Since postexperience information can also be important and is widespread for established goods and services, it is appropriate to ask about the cognitive effects of these efforts. The postexperience advertising situation is conceptualized here as an instant source-forgetting problem where the language and imagery from the recently presented advertising become confused with consumers' own experiential memories, it is suggested that, through a reconstructive memory process, this advertising information affects how and what consumers remember. Consumers may come to believe that their past product experience had been as suggested by the advertising. Over time this postexperience advertising information can become incorporated into the brand schema and influence future product decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliable and valid message evaluation has a central role in effective health communication and message effects research. The authors have employed a message testing protocol to efficiently acquire valid and reliable message evaluation results: (a) use multiple messages, (b) recruit evaluators from the target population, (c) use valid and reliable effectiveness measures, (d) expose an evaluator to multiple messages, and (e) ensure enough evaluations per message. Two secondary analyses of anti-tobacco message evaluation studies provide evidence for reliability and validity regarding points (d) and (e). Seven studies where adult smokers evaluated the effectiveness of various anti-smoking campaign messages were examined. The first analysis shows that the position in which a message appears has little or no impact on its evaluation, supporting the validity of multiple-exposure design. The second analysis suggests having 25 evaluations per message can achieve a fair balance between accuracy and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2018 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that Earth's temperatures may soon reach a tipping point that threatens humanity's future. Scientists from many disciplines agree that anthropogenic climate change is a serious problem yet many Americans remain skeptical of the existence, causes, and/or severity of climate change. In this article, we review recent research on climate change communication focusing on audience variables and messaging strategies with the goal of providing communication practitioners research-based recommendations for climate change message design. Factors that influence audience acceptance and understanding of climate science include: demographic variables (such as political party affiliation, religious orientation, and geographic location), as well as brief sections on misinformation, and beliefs in pseudoscience. Keys to effectively construct climate messaging are discussed including: framing strategies; reducing psychological distance; emotional appeals; efficacy cues; weight-of-evidence/weight of expert reporting; inoculation/correcting misinformation; and separating science from conspiracy theories. Evidence-based strategies are critical in giving science communicators the tools they need to bridge the gap between the scientific community and the at-risk public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is twofold: first, to demonstrate how the use of experimental methods challenges the implicit assumption of progressive discourse analysts that 'inspiring' messages will have a positive effect on political attitudes and trust regardless of the recipients' early political dispositions, and second, to examine the power of conciliatory message design to change political attitudes in favor of a peaceful solution to intractable conflicts such as the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. By employing the conceptual frameworks of progressive discourse analysis and experimental critical discourse analysis, we examined the most comprehensive hypothesis formulated thus far in the literature of conflict resolution with regard to the conditions under which conciliatory messages become successful. We found that the exposure of hawkish participants to highly conciliatory messages decreases both their support for compromise-based peace and their trust in the opponent's leader, which underlines the need for more caution on the side of peace discourse scholars when assuming that conciliatory language has the power to bring about a (positive) political change. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for critical/progressive discourse analysts, conflict resolution scholars and professionals involved in conciliatory message design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Laundry is a major factor in hotel fresh water use. Pro-environmental appeals to encourage tourists to reuse towels and bed linen have received much attention in the literature, though findings have remained inconclusive. This paper presents the results of a large field experiment with 21,000 observations in seven hotels catering to the sun, sand & sea leisure tourism market in Gran Canaria, Spain. Findings suggest that comprehensive message designs can increase towel reuse by 6.8% and bed linen reuse by 1.2%, compared to existing in-room messages. Results also show that nationality, age, length of stay, repeat visits, temperature, and hotel standard influence participation levels. The field experiment confirms that normative appeals can trigger significant behavioural change. Evidence suggests, however, that social norm generation may be a more promising avenue to changing behaviour than norm adherence. Highlights • Presents results of large field experiment to test towel-reuse appeal designs. • Shows that comprehensive message designs can significantly increase towel reuse. • Finds that various factors influence behaviour, such as nationality, age, or length of stay. • Supports changes in in-room message designs to increase towel reuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study adopted a quantitative content analysis to examine how source attributes of opinion leaders and their message framing influenced user engagement in the public discourse of genetically modified organism (GMO) on Chinese social media. The findings showed that different source attributes and message frames used by opinion leaders varied in their respective influences on three dimensions of user engagement—reposts, comments, and likes. The attribute of account verification only predicted surface-level engagement (i.e., liking), whereas account type significantly influenced in-depth engagement (i.e., reposting and commenting). The fact, opportunity, pro-GMO, and international frames positively predicted user engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study postulates that the presence of a dominant picture in a print ad can alter a consumer's cognitive activity while viewing the ad. Using the findings of previous research, we develop a model of the process by which a viewer evaluates, encodes, and stores information found in the ad. This model is tested in a laboratory setting. The results clearly indicate that the way a message is conveyed (pictorially or verbally), whether the viewer is given some reference point for encoding the picture (framed or not framed), and the type of claim made (objective, subjective, or characterization) have a significant effect on the processing of the information presented in the advertisements. These differences in processing are also shown to affect the viewer's brand attitudes and purchase intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Verbalizations of the thoughts evoked by an advocacy message are used as data in many persuasion experiments. In this article, the theory and measurement principles underlying such research are examined, and a review of empirical evidence on the relationship between experimental treatments, verbalized thoughts, and ensuing topical judgments is presented. The conclusion is that verbalized thoughts may be valid indicants of some audience processing activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been assumed that the associative process plays a central and important role in advertising creativity. Yet, although this assumption has long been recognized, we know very little, other than intuitively, about the creative process itself. This paper represents a preliminary inquiry into this gap of advertising theory, formulating an associative model for the individual copywriter's creative process. More specifically, this study examines the relationship of associative ability, attitude, and creative ability, as conceptualized in the presented model. The findings suggest a direct and significant relationship among these three variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports the results of a study conducted to determine the effect of the consistency of product claims on the credibility of persuasive messages. The results indicate that 1) the believability of product claims may be increased by disclaiming superiority on some product attributes, 2) low consistency ads result in higher expectancy value ratings than high consistency ads and 3) that the consumer's sex and personality have no moderating influence on the relationship between the consistency of advertising claims and the persuasiveness of the ad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines such variables as program type, (drama vs. games), program time, viewing frequency, number of persons in the room, and the viewers sex as they affect the daytime television viewer's ability to recognize products which were (or were not) advertised on television programs viewed immediately prior to interviews conducted with a random sample of viewers from the Dayton, Ohio, metropolitan area. Results of this study indicate a number of statistically significant differences triggered by these variables-differences which have potentially large practical implications for television advertisers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of humorous commercials is quite evident in television advertising today. This article reports the results of a content analysis of over 2,000 television commercials. Humorous advertisements were analyzed and compared to non-humorous commercials with respect to their use of animation, the number of models, product handling, humor placement, multi-sense usage, and the direction of the humor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International advertisers are often faced with the problem of whether and to what extent they should change their messages from one country to another. Some advertisers feel that messages can be standardized across countries, while others believe adaptation is usually necessary. The study reported in this paper tests the acceptability of standardized advertising. Groups of consumers from three foreign countries are tested to determine whether they perceive the same product attributes important in the purchase of two common convenience products as a comparable group of consumers in the United States. The findings indicate substantial and consistent differences between the Americans and the other groups which suggest the inadvisability of standardized global advertising in these cases and perhaps in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies have investigated differences between goods and services advertisements, but no research has examined differences between business-to-business services advertising and consumer services advertising. The authors use the content analysis method to investigate differences in several message elements in the context of the two types of services advertisements. In their sample of 186 advertisements, 91 ads were for business-to-business services and 95 were for consumer services. The specific message elements evaluated were message appeal, headline usage, price information, quality claims, and the inclusion of an Internet address. The findings indicate significant differences between business-to-business and consumer services advertisements in the types of message appeals used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores a growing genre of marketing communication, labeled hybrid messages, which creatively combine key advantages (and avoid key disadvantages) inherent in advertising and publicity messages. Several types of hybrid messages are discussed, including those with long established histories (product placements, program-length commercials, program tie-ins), and those with a relatively recent origin (masked-art, masked-news, and masked-spokesperson messages). To obtain integrative insights on hybrid messages, this study: (a) reviews their historical/current regulatory status, (b) discusses their pros and cons, theoretical rationales and practical implications, and (c) delineates an extensive agenda for future research. Several important public policy questions raised by hybrid messages are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the impact of ethical judgments about televised political commercials on global attitude toward the ad. Findings from the quasi-experiment indicate that the "ethical" attribute belongs to a set of salient, "utilitarian" cognitions that influence how political commercials are evaluated. These findings suggest that ethical perceptions really matter. However, certain emotional "hedonic" cognitive responses, which voters say are nonsalient in their overall evaluations of political ads, in fact may circumvent the powerful impact of ethical-and other salient-cognitive elements. Implications for political advertising strategy and public policy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, an increased number of advertisements have been questioned as being potentially unethical. Because of complaints from academicians, special interest groups, competitors, and broadcasters, certain advertising campaigns have been pulled from the media. The fact that potentially unethical ads are reaching the market-place suggests that current methods of ad evaluation may be inadequate for some of today's controversial or innovative campaigns. The authors introduce the narrative paradigm as a possible solution or tool for discerning potentially unethical aspects of advertisements. A narrative approach to the evaluation of ad messages can reveal inconsistencies between the ad and the intended or influential audiences before the damaging effects of inappropriate campaigns occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional cognitive response elicitation procedures may not be sensitive enough to elicit the stylized and subtle thoughts that are generated during exposure to certain types of ads. When these types of thoughts are the focus of an advertising researcher's work, it is critical that he or she develop a procedure that has the sensitivity to draw them forth without being reactive. A laboratory study examines two different procedures to do this: pre-exposure exercises and directed post-exposure instructions. The results suggest that each procedure raises measurement sensitivity, but that there is no advantage in combining them. General guidelines are then presented for developing stylized cognitive response elicitation procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to present a revised communication model that describes advertising by drawing upon its kinship with crafted text rather than with everyday speech. The model expands the traditional communication triad by inscribing advertisers, promotional text, and consumers as multidimensional participants in a complex interactive process. The paper begins by presenting the rationale for treating commercial messages as written "text" and recategorizing them as more complex than the oral discourse of word-of-mouth conversations. It next summarizes the steps by which the original oral communication model is transformed from speech to literature to advertising. It then discusses the expanded triad, considering multiple aspects of the source, the message, and consumer-recipients. It concludes with suggestions for research using the revised model to investigate gaps in knowledge about source credibility, message/media effects, and the interactive consumer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advertising message involvement (AMI) has been identified as an important individual/situational factor influencing advertising processing. In order to isolate and examine various theoretical relationships, researchers often experimentally manipulate AMI. In this study, several manipulations of the construct were tested for their ability to place individuals into high-and low-involvement groups. The results of the analyses indicated that modifications in manipulation instructions may alter the pattern of results obtained on manipulation-and confounding-check measures. The findings also suggest that relationships between theoretical constructs may be dependent upon the involvement manipulation utilized. The study is intended to demonstrate the delicate balance/relationship between methodological rigor and theoretical development/advancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humor is a commonly used communication tool in American advertising, but little is known about what makes an ad more or less humorous. This study examines a sample of television ads to determine whether recent psycholinguistic theories of humor can help explain why certain ads that intend to be humorous are perceived as such while others are less successful. For example, ads which employed a contrast between everyday life and the unexpected were generally perceived as more humorous than those employing a contrast between everyday life and the impossible. The theoretical and applied implications of such findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Viewer processing of television commercials is influenced by an affective triad of viewer involvement; that is, involvement in a particular program interacts with both the viewer's involvement in the advertising message and with the ad's inherent attention-engaging capacity. Two experiments were conducted to test hypotheses relevant to this theory; the results support the assertion that both program involvement and dramatic attentional devices used in television advertisements, based on their interaction with one another and with viewers' processing motivation, have the capacity to enhance or hinder the generation of viewer thoughts relevant to ad messages. Building on prior studies, this research reveals some of the cognitive processes underlying program involvement as well as demonstrating the interactive nature of that construct in terms of message and audience characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two issues make advertising effectiveness difficult to assess: (1) advertising effects occur both during ad processing and when ad information is retrieved, and (2) the information that consumers derive from advertisements is likely to be some combination of explicit information and inferences. The study reported in this paper addresses these issues, examining the effects of encoding and time delay on advertising processing. Results indicate that while some types of inferences (product features) are more likely to be made under strong than weak encoding conditions, other types of inferences (consumption situation) are not affected by encoding. In addition, at the time of a decision (after a time delay), memory information use depends both upon individual brand accessibility and the relative accessibility of alternative brands in the memory set. Implications for both advertising researchers and managers are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resnik and Stern's (1977) fourteen-item information scale was used to compare the relative information value of direct response, product/store image, and institutional ads contained in eighteen magazines. Content analysis of 8,470 ads revealed that direct response ads tend to differ significantly from both product/store image and institutional ads in terms of the number of information cues they contained as well as the kinds of information conveyed. Specifically, as one moves from lower levels of information content to higher levels, the proportion of direct response ads shifts from significantly smaller to significantly larger proportions when compared to both product/store image and institutional ads. Further, direct response ads were found to be more likely to exhibit nine of the fourteen kinds of information cues examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literary concepts from genre studies of classical allegory are adapted to analysis of advertising formats. Two classical forms-reification and typology-are discussed, and their importance for advertising summarized. Four basic allegorical elements are described to distinguish the forms, and two advertisements are analyzed to reveal the function of each in relation to product class, message appeal, copy structure, and media selection. Advertising consequences are proposed in terms of brand strategy appropriate to message type (informational or transformational), executional appeal (nostalgia and bizarre), and desired response (attention or empathy). Future research issues are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the effects of taking thought measurements immediately after ad exposure on several aspects of post-exposure cognitive structure about the advertised brand. The results suggest that thought measurement influences subsequent measures of confidence in belief, attitude, and intention variables, and the strength of association between beliefs and attitude/intention measures-and particularly so for audiences high in message-response involvement. However, thought measurement produced no direct effects on traditional measures of ad effectiveness such as beliefs and attitudes about the advertised brand. Implications of these results for future advertising research utilizing the thought-measurement methodology are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerable social psychology and communications research show that intelligent use of fear messages can have favorable effects on attitude change and action. Yet the unique persuasive possibilities offered by the fear appeal have been neglected by marketing. This is in sharp contrast to the creative pursuit of positive advertising appeal. This article presents a marketing-oriented discussion and summary of research on the fear appeal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health promotion programs represent a salient means through which physical activity promoters can cultivate positive health behavior change and maintenance. The messages communicated within these programs serve as an essential component as they are often used to convey valuable information, resources, or tools that facilitate health behavior initiation and sustained engagement. Identifying the most effective way to communicate health promotion information is, therefore, of considerable importance to ensuring that people not only attend to these messages, but also connect with and internalize the information conveyed within them. This paper was written to (1) summarize and evaluate the most prominent reviewed research approaches of message framing and tailoring to message design; and (2) offer a comprehensive messaging strategy to promote sustained health behavior change. A review of the literature demonstrated that a messaging strategy that has consistently led to healthy behavior change has yet to be identified. Furthermore, scholars have articulated that a multi-theoretical approach that places emphasis on facilitating motivation and healthy behavior change needs to be employed. Thus, this paper proposes and provides recommendations for employing the Comprehensive Messaging Strategy for Sustained Behavior Change (CMSSBC), which advocates tailoring messages to peoples’ stage of change and framing them to focus on self-determined motives and intrinsic goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated effects of message framing and social distance on individuals' attitude toward health campaign and behavioral intention. Individuals who read a gain-framed message had better attitude toward the campaign and higher level of behavioral intention than those who read a loss-framed message. Perceived benefits mediated the relationship between message framing and behavioral intention. Perceived severity mediated the relationship between social distance and behavioral intention only in the loss framing condition. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigates message design logic patterns, message goals, and message tactics in first- and second-request messages. Participants (N = 135) in a romantic relationship created request messages in response to hypothetical scenarios. Message design logic did not differ significantly from the first to the second request. The most commonly used design logic was conventional. Identity goals and instrumental goals were more important for second request messages than for first-request messages. Additional message strategies derived from a thematic analysis showed that first-request messages included pet names and assumed compliance. Second-request messages included counterpersuasion efforts. Results support the role of obligation in romantic relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reported study investigated the persuasive effects of nouns describing activities and their human actors in message design. Fictitious op-ed essays were created from the point of view of authors taking a complimentary or critical stance on two controversial topics. Different versions were created in which activity nouns (immigration, cosmetic surgery) or actor nouns (immigrants, cosmetic surgeons) referring to the topics were manipulated orthogonally to essay stance. Participants considered essays praising actors to be more persuasive than others praising activities, but were more persuaded by essays indicting activities than actors. The implications for message design theory and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study details the persuasive message development for a theory-based campaign designed to increase compliance with a university's tobacco-free policy.Approach: The theory of planned behavior (TPB) guided message design and evaluation for focus group-tested messages that were adapted to the context of complying with a tobacco-free policy.Setting: The study was conducted at a university located in the tobacco belt.Participants: Undergraduate focus group participants (n = 65) were mostly male (69%), white (82%), and freshman (62%) who smoked at least 1 cigarette in the last 30 days; on-campus smoking percentages were never/rare (60%), occasionally (23%), and often/frequently (16%).Method: Data analysis used a theoretical thematic approach to identify how the TPB constructs related to perceptions of message effectiveness.Results: Participants responded favorably to attitudinal strategies about health, respect, and university figures; they rejected approaches they considered juvenile and offensive. They also discussed the impact of noncompliance and avoiding overgeneralized statements for addressing subjective norms, suggesting shortening text, adjusting picture location, and emphasizing the importance of compliance to increase perceptions of behavioral control.Conclusion: Applying theory to preexisting messages is challenging. The design approach in this study is an evidence-based strategy that can be used as a universal process for message adaptation. Results offer health promotion suggestions for designing messages aimed at improving undergraduate smokers' willingness to comply with tobacco-free campus policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia, young drivers aged 17–25 years comprise 13% of the population yet account for 22% of all road deaths with young males over-represented in such trauma. Speeding represents a major contributing factor and advertising campaigns have long focused on promoting anti-speeding messages in the effort to reduce drivers’ speeds. Positioned within a larger program of research aimed at developing, piloting, and evaluating a range of theoretically-informed anti-speeding messages, the current study reports results relating to the final phase of the research, the evaluation. Six messages were devised in accordance with the guiding framework, the Step approach to Message Design and Testing ([SatMDT]; Lewis et al., 2016) and based on the findings emerging from earlier qualitative and quantitative studies within the program of research. N = 938 licensed drivers (n = 455 males, 48%) aged 17–62 years completed an online survey. To ensure a controlled test of the persuasiveness of the message content, the messages were presented in an audio-based format and thus were devoid of potential confounds, such as images. The messages sought to address a particular belief (i.e., behavioural, normative, control) and to focus either on emphasising the positive aspects which make speeding less likely or challenging the negative aspects which make speeding more likely. Thus, key to this evaluation was to test the persuasiveness of the message content in terms of the particular belief and focus it was addressing. Participants were randomly assigned to either the Control condition (i.e., no exposure to a message) or the Intervention condition (i.e., exposed to one of the six messages presented as an audio-recorded message within the survey). Persuasiveness was assessed via a range of outcome measures including both direct (i.e., third-person perceptions, message rejection) as well as indirect measures (i.e., intentions, willingness to speed). Age, gender, and message type were independent variables (IVs), together with issue involvement as a covariate (or IV) in the study’s analyses. Overall, positive persuasive effects, and a relative absence of any negative, dissuasive effects, were found for two messages, Glass Cars and The Lift . These messages addressed the same salient belief, control beliefs, with the former emphasising the factors which discourage speeding and the latter message challenging those factors which encourage speeding. The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of the insights they offer for the key content of future anti-speeding messages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective communication is one of the most fundamental aspects of successful patient care, and it frequently depends on the nurses’ ability to empathize with patients while finding effective ways to translate medical science into personally relevant health information. Skilled nurses are expected to understand the patient’s experiences and feelings and be able to communicate this understanding to the patient, but language strategies used to achieve the goal of empathic communication can vary. In this article, we employed the model of message design logics to evaluate what strategies nursing students (N = 343) used to express empathy during a simulated health history training. The results of this study advance our understanding of what constitutes a high-quality response to the disclosure of personal health history facts. In addition to providing a general framework for understanding empathic responses during health history assessment, the message design logic perspective highlights the differences in linguistic choices in simulated patient–provider conversations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This final contribution to this special Journal of Language and Social Psychology issue on “using the science of language to improve translation of the language of science” places the articles in the context and nature of the broader literature on science communication, particularly as it relates to the media. This framework is crafted with a view to identifying the complex factors and processes that create translation problems, highlighting models and approaches that can improve science communication. Throughout, we propose a parsimonious set of research agenda items. Scholars wishing to move between different models of science communication should take into consideration the processes of formative evaluation, intergroup accommodation, and message design logics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the influence of compliance-gaining messages on patients' intent to comply with physician requests in treating Type II diabetes. Using Barbara O'Keefe's research on message design logic, physician messages representing O'Keefe's three paradigms of language use were examined in short semi-structured patient interviews. Questions examined which approach resonated best with patients related to cultivating positive attitudes about compliance with treatment plans. Results show rhetorical messages are most valued because patients feel their humanity and worth as individuals is reinforced while simultaneously being able to treat their medical condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author presents eight rules to be used in judging advertising creativity. They can be followed by anyone but are particularly applicable to new graduates entering the held of marketing. Each rule is discussed briefly using examples as illustrations wherever possible. The rules are: (1) make sure that the advertising adheres to the creative strategy, (2) make sure the advertising is directed to the right audience, (3) make sure the advertising is single-minded, (4) make sure that you know what the creative people have in mind, (5) make sure the advertising technique doesn't overpower the message, (6) separate personal prejudices from judgment decisions, (7) make sure the advertising doesn't change the product image; (8) have faith. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]