Development of the UNC Perceived Message Effectiveness Scale for Youth

PurposeTobacco prevention media campaigns are an important tool to address youth tobacco use. We developed a theory-based perceived message effectiveness (PME) Scale to use when vetting messages for campaigns.MethodsParticipants were a national sample of N=623 US adolescents (ages 13–17 years) recruited from a national probability-based panel. In an online experiment, we randomised adolescents to view tobacco prevention ads. All participants viewed an ad on smoking or vaping from the US Food and Drug Administration’s The Real Cost campaign and a control video, in a random order. After ad exposure, we assessed PME using nine candidate items and constructs for convergent and criterion validity analyses. We used confirmatory factor analysis and examined information curves to select the scale items.ResultsA brief PME scale with three items (α=0.95) worked equally well for demographically diverse adolescents with different patterns of tobacco use. The Real Cost ads generated higher PME scores than the control videos for both vaping and smoking (convergent validity; p<0.05). Higher PME scores were associated with greater attention, fear, cognitive elaboration and anticipated social interactions (convergent validity; r=0.31–0.66), as well as more negative attitudes toward and lower susceptibility to vaping and smoking (criterion validity; r=−0.14 to −0.37). A single-item PME measure performed similarly to the three-item version.ConclusionsThe University of North Carolina PME Scale for Youth is a reliable and valid measure of the potential effectiveness of vaping and smoking prevention ads. Employing PME scales during message development and selection may help youth tobacco prevention campaigns deploy more effective ads.

Persuading US White evangelicals to vaccinate for COVID-19: Testing message effectiveness in fall 2020 and spring 2021

The development of COVID-19 vaccines was an important breakthrough for ending the pandemic. However, people refusing to get vaccinated diminish the level of community protection afforded to others. In the United States, White evangelicals have proven to be a particularly difficult group to convince to get vaccinated. Here we investigate whether this group can be persuaded to get vaccinated. To do this, we leverage data from two survey experiments, one fielded prior to approval of COVID-19 vaccines (study 1) and one fielded after approval (study 2). In both experiments, respondents were randomly assigned to treatment messages to promote COVID-19 vaccination. In study 1, we find that a message that emphasizes community interest and reciprocity with an invocation of embarrassment for choosing not to vaccinate is the most effective at increasing uptake intentions, while values-consistent messaging appears to be ineffective. In contrast, in study 2 we observe that this message is no longer effective and that most messages produce little change in vaccine intent. This inconsistency may be explained by the characteristics of White evangelicals who remain unvaccinated vis à vis those who got vaccinated. These results demonstrate the importance of retesting messages over time, the apparent limitations of values-targeted messaging, and document the need to consider heterogeneity even within well-defined populations. This work also cautions against drawing broad conclusions from studies carried out at a single point in time during the COVID-19 pandemic.

EXPRESS: Tainted by Stigma: The Interplay of Stigma and Moral Identity in Health Persuasion

The current research examines the interactive effect of consumers’ moral identity and risk factor stigma on health message effectiveness. We 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. We 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). We apply the stigma-by-association principle to develop and test a messaging intervention (study 5). Our 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.

Game play and the effectiveness of sponsor signage: visual attention to brand messages in live sport broadcasts

PurposeTechnological innovations could allow for real-time control of sponsor exposure during sport broadcasts to increase the capacity of sponsor messages to attract attention. While such an approach requires knowledge on the interplay between in-game events and viewers' attention to sponsor signage previous studies have disregarded factors pertaining to the competition itself. To address this gap, this paper investigates the impact of game-related variables on the allocation of viewer attention in live broadcasts.Design/methodology/approachEye tracking is used to examine the impact of variations in score, ball position and ball possession on soccer fans' attention to sponsor messages during broadcasts. In total, the data comprise n = 36,604 second-by-second observations from 11 participants and games.FindingsLogistic regression analysis reveals game time effects and significant interaction effects between possession and the score as well as the ball position variable. Sponsors receive less attention if the attacking team controls the ball near the opponents' goal, particularly if the viewers' preferred team is in possession.Practical implicationsProperty owners and sponsors can exploit these findings to determine the value of sponsor brand exposure more precisely. New systems could further increase message effectiveness through adjustments of sponsor exposure based on real time match event data.Originality/valueThis study is the first to explore the influence of game-related variables on attention to sponsors. By employing live broadcasts in a near-realistic setting, it further addresses a gap in the literature and adds to the knowledge on sponsor message processing.

Tailored Cigarette Warning Messages: How Individualized Loss Aversion and Delay Discounting Rates Can Influence Perceived Message Effectiveness

Current text-only cigarette warning labels (long-term, loss-framed messages) may not motivate positive changes in smoking behavior. The current project was a cross-sectional study examining the effects of tailored cigarette warnings on perceived message effectiveness (PME) in adult smokers (n = 512) conducted using Amazon Mechanical Turk (M-Turk) in January–February 2020. Participants were an average age of 40.7 (SD = 11.6), with the majority of the sample being female (62.2%) and White (88.9%). Participants reported smoking an average of 14.6 cigarettes/day (SD = 9.2) with an average FTND score of 4.6 (SD = 2.2). Participants were asked to complete a tobacco use history questionnaire, and mixed gambles and delay discounting tasks before random assignment to one of five message groups. The groups were based on a 2 (gain versus loss framing) ×2 (short-term versus long-term framing) between-subject design; a fifth group served as the control group. All experimental messages reported higher PME scores than the control (p values < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 1.88–2.48). Participants with shallower delayed reward discounting and lower loss aversion rates reported higher total PME scores, p values < 0.05. Our findings also suggest that loss aversion rates vary widely among smokers and that individuals are more responsive to messages congruent with their behavioral economic profile. Specifically, smokers who viewed messages congruent with their loss aversion and delay discounting rates reported higher PME scores than those who viewed incongruent messages (p = 0.04, Cohen’s d = 0.24). These preliminary findings suggest that anti-smoking campaigns may best impact smokers by tailoring messages based on individual loss aversion and delay discounting rates versus a one-size-fits-all approach.

EFEKTIVITAS PESAN POSTER #BUDAYABEBERES DALAM MENGEDUKASI PERILAKU HIDUP BERSIH KONSUMEN KFC DI KOTA PALU

A media can be an intermediary that supports the effectiveness of a message. Messages can be proclaimed to be effective if the communicant gives feedback as expected by the communicator. This research attempts to define the effectiveness of the #Budayabeberes massage in the poster for educating the clean living behavior of KFC consumers in Palu City. The research uses a questionnaire as a data assembly technique. The research method adopted is a quantitative method with a survey research type to describe or exemplify the topic whose findings can be generalized in this research. The subjects in this research amounted to 80 people who were selected using the purposive sampling technique with the #budayabeberes message in the poster for educating consumers to live clean life as an object of the research. The findings confirmed that the #Budayabeberes massage in the poster was effective in persuading consumers to conduct a clean-up after eating. This can be distinguished based on the theory of message effectiveness according to Wilbur Schramm which contains 4 indicators, i.e. attracting attention, symbols that are understood, constructing needs and how to retrieve. Cultivated data recapitulation of respondent’s answers with a total score of 257 so that when discerned based on the ideal score and the answer area in the rating scale, the #BudayaBeberes message in the poster is in the effective category.

Testing front-of-package warnings to discourage red meat consumption: a randomized experiment with US meat consumers

Background Reducing red meat is a strategy to improve public health and mitigate climate change in the United States and other high-income countries. Policies requiring warnings on the front of red meat packages are a promising intervention to shift consumers towards healthier and more sustainable food choices. We aimed to explore participants’ reactions to health and environmental warning messages about red meat. Methods Between June and July 2020, we recruited a national convenience sample of US red meat consumers (n = 1,235; mean age 44 years) for an online survey. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four label conditions: no-label control, health warning, environment warning, and combined health and environment warning (both warnings shown side-by-side). Participants viewed three types of burritos (red meat [steak], chicken, and vegetarian) and selected their preferred item (primary outcome), the item they perceived to be most damaging to health, and the item they perceived to be most damaging to the environment (secondary outcomes). Participants then viewed their assigned warning on a series of other red meat products (no-label control participants were randomly re-assigned to one of the warning conditions) and rated the warnings on perceived message effectiveness, believability, negative emotions, perceived risk, attention, and learning something new. Finally, participants reported their intentions to reduce red meat consumption. Results There were no significant differences in selection of the steak burrito between label conditions or in selection of the item most damaging to the environment. Those exposed to the health warning were more likely to select the steak burrito as most damaging to health compared to those exposed to other label conditions (health 73 %, combined 64 %, environment 60 %, no-label control 63 %, p < 0.05). The combined and health warnings elicited higher perceived message effectiveness ratings than the environment warning (combined mean 2.91, health 2.84, environment 2.61, p < 0.05). Conclusions Warnings did not have a significant effect on item preference in the choice experiment. However, combined and health warnings performed better than the environment warning across a variety of warning label reaction measures. More research will be needed to understand whether warnings elicit behavioral change in real-world environments. Trial registration Analyses and hypotheses were preregistered on https://aspredicted.org/ph7mb.pdf on 23 June 2020.

Specificity of CSR Ties That (Un)Bind Brand Attachment

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) influences brand personality, trust, firm attitudes, and purchase intentions. Yet, little attention has been paid to its effects on brand attachment. This study integrated message specificity, self-identity, and attachment theories to explain how socially responsible communication can be used to influence brand attachment. We show that CSR boosted brand attachment when messages contained specific (rather than generic) information that fostered positive brand elaborations, but eroded it when specific information was interpreted negatively. This effect was present only when socially responsible engagement was personally relevant to consumers, pointing to significant variations in message effectiveness. CSR was also more effective when firms announced socially responsible support for the first time and less effective when firms already had a CSR track record, pointing to a ceiling effect.

Responses to pictorial versus text-only cigarillo warnings among a nationally representative sample of US young adults

BackgroundThe US Food and Drug Administration requires six text-only warnings for cigar products, including cigarillos. Research has demonstrated the superiority of pictorial over text-only cigarette warnings, yet the relative effectiveness of pictorial warnings for cigarillos has not been examined. We examined the impact of pictorial cigarillo warnings compared with text-only warnings.MethodsData were collected from a nationally representative sample of US young adult (18–29) cigarillo users and susceptible non-users. Participants were randomised to one of three experimental conditions: text-only or one of two pictorial conditions (combined for analyses). For each warning, we assessed negative emotional reactions, cognitive elaboration (ie, thinking about cigarillo risks) and perceived message effectiveness (PME).ResultsParticipants (N=661) were 46.5% female, 64.7% white and 21.9% Hispanic; 34.1% reported past 30-day cigarillo use; 41.4% were lifetime users (excluding past 30-day use); and 24.4% were susceptible non-users. Pictorial warnings elicited more negative emotional reactions and higher PME than text-only warnings (p values<0.01), with interactions showing the largest effects for past 30-day users (emotional reactions: d=0.99, PME: d=0.63). For cognitive elaboration, there was no main effect of warning type, but an interaction revealed effects for past 30-day users (p<0.05, d=0.46).ConclusionsPictorial cigarillo warnings elicited greater negative emotional reactions and PME compared with text-only warnings. These effects and the effects on cognitive elaboration were strongest for past 30-day users. Our findings extend research on cigarette warnings to cigarillos, demonstrating that pictorial warnings are superior to text-only warnings for cigarillos in eliciting beneficial responses.