Are public service announcements effective when using fear appeals to convince people of something, such as safe sex to cease the spread of AIDS? I believe they are not. There are three reasons I believe this. The first reason is in light of the elaboration likelihood Theory, which depends on the way people process message. People use one of two routes when evaluating messages in the public service announcements, the central and peripheral. The second reason is fear appeals tend to be less effective when used in short televised public announcements. They are more appropriate for formats that allow more elaborate and longer messages to reinforce self-efficacy. The third and final reason is communication campaigns advocating safe sex should have personal relevance of the topic as the first goal. The first reason I believe public service announcements are not effective when using fear appeals is because of the elaboration likelihood theory. The theory is best used when evaluating persuasive messages. The central route is the first route used when viewing a public service announcement. A person elaborating on persuasive message will seriously think about the message being perceived.
When the messages become confusing people will switch to using the peripheral route. According to Elaboration Likelihood, high involvement with an issue is associated with central processing which focuses on the quality of the arguments in the messages. However, peripheral processing marks low involvement. The Elaboration Likelihood would argue that involvement would interact with spokesperson and appeal, so that spokesperson and appeal will be less involved participants. The second reason why I believe fear appeals do not affect people is because of the length of public service announcements. According to Spokesperson Sex and PSA Appeal, although PSA included important fear appeal features (threat and fear), it might not have presented enough information to cue feelings. Studies have proven that when public service announcements are less than fifty seconds long, participants will not be able to analyze to the fullest extent. At times, the feeling of anger or even sadness would appear. The test was consisted of a paired sample tests that contrasted the affect induced by each of the 31 fear appeal PSA’s with the feeling state prior to viewing any messages.
The Term Paper on Literary Appeal
Who is Henry David Thoreau? Why is his name blundered all over books, journals and blogspots on the World Wide Web? To answer this question entails brief reconnaissance of how he treats his life and how his astounding philosophical views change the “outlook” of the American life back then and how his ideas influenced the human mind machinations up until now. Henry David Thoreau also known as Henry ...
The studies showed that 61% of the PSA’s produced a significant increase in self-reported fear. The results of the remaining 39% showed either the feeling of surprise, puzzlement and even happiness. (Dillard 1996) I conducted my own personal study with three students in their early twenties. They did not know that I was going to ask them questions, since I wanted to see if they really paid attention. I taped two public service announcements and showed it to the participants. One of the PSA’s was 25 seconds long, while the other was one minute long. The shorter PSA was very brief and to the point while the other was long and detailed. When I questioned the participants, I first asked what did they think about the shorter PSA. They all answered that they really were not paying that much attention. On the other hand, the longer PSA caught their attention, it was really specific and to the point. All the participants agreed that the 60-second PSA had more information and did in fact induce some fear and thought about message being given. The third and final reason for the reason as to why I do not believe that public service announcements are not effective is because the communication campaigns advocating safe sex should have personal relevance of the topic as the first goal.
The Term Paper on Main Drivers Behind Changes In The Ways That Public Services
Main drivers behind changes in the ways that public services have been delivered over the past 30 years It was during the first half of the last century when two World Wars spurred the action of government to control its national resources. This was followed by the protective role that public administrations extended as they also had a key role in the other areas such as economic, social and ...
According to Health Communication, consistent with expectations, participants’ sense of personal relevance or involvement with AIDS was a significant factor in spokesperson and PSA evaluation. However, more involved participants rated the spokesperson as more credible and the PSA as more effective. (Pierce, Nathanson, Mcleod 1996) One example of personal relevance is the use of condoms. Studies have proven that men care more about the satisfaction of women during sexual intercourse. Therefore an advertisement with a women with a condom will attract men more than it will women. Another example of personal relevance is when Hispanics make a public service announcement it affected the Hispanic community more than the Caucasian. Therefore the effect of that particular announcement impacted minority community rather than the majority. In conclusion, I strongly believe that Public Service Announcements do not have a strong impact on viewers. The three reasons I believe this is in light of the Elaboration Likelihood Theory, which is what people use when they are evaluating any persuasive message. When a person is watching a Public Service Announcement they start off by elaborating using the central route which involves a lot of rationalizing and careful thought.
When the message becomes confusing or mixed they then use the peripheral route. The peripheral route involves no thinking and no extensive cognitive review. The second reason is the length of the Public Service Announcement. When a PSA is less than sixty seconds long, there is not enough time to evaluate the message. When this happens, fear appeals are useless. Public Service Announcements need to be at least a minute in length so there will be enough time to analyze and respond to the message, either with fear or sadness. The final reason is the personal relevance to the spokesperson or persons. The viewers need to be able to relate to the people who are trying to induce fear. If a person can not relate to the people sending the message, then the PSA becomes just another commercial, which completely defeats the purpose. I personally experienced this first hand, since I conducted a study of my own which proved my beliefs. I analyzed three people and all of them had the same thing to say. Public Service Announcements that are longer in length affect the viewer in a more emotional way, while the shorter PSA just gets to the point with no feeling involved. Are public service announcements effective when using fear appeals to convince people of something, such as safe sex to cease the spread of AIDS? I believe they are not.
The Term Paper on Authority In The Public Services
Authority means the right or power to enforce rules or give orders. To do this they need legislations to enforce their laws, to function properly the uniformed pubic services need to have legislations. The extent of authority relates to the limit of control held by an individual or organisation. The limit of control is governed by the job description of the role, as well as the jurisdiction, with ...
There are three reasons I believe this. The first reason is in light of the Elaboration Likelihood Theory, which depends on the way people process message. People use one of two routes when evaluating messages in the public service announcements, the central and peripheral. The second reason is fear appeals tend to be less effective when used in short televised public announcements. They are more appropriate for formats that allow more elaborate and longer messages to reinforce self-efficacy. The third and final reason is communication campaigns advocating safe sex should have personal relevance of the topic as the first goal. The first reason I believe public service announcements are not effective when using fear appeals is because of the elaboration likelihood theory. The theory is best used when evaluating persuasive messages. The central route is the first route used when viewing a public service announcement. A person elaborating on persuasive message will seriously think about the message being perceived. When the messages become confusing people will switch to using the peripheral route. According to Elaboration Likelihood, high involvement with an issue is associated with central processing which focuses on the quality of the arguments in the messages.
However, peripheral processing marks low involvement. The Elaboration Likelihood would argue that involvement would interact with spokesperson and appeal, so that spokesperson and appeal will be less involved participants. The second reason why I believe fear appeals do not affect people is because of the length of public service announcements. According to Spokesperson Sex and PSA Appeal, although PSA included important fear appeal features (threat and fear), it might not have presented enough information to cue feelings. Studies have proven that when public service announcements are less than fifty seconds long, participants will not be able to analyze to the fullest extent. At times, the feeling of anger or even sadness would appear. The test was consisted of a paired sample tests that contrasted the affect induced by each of the 31 fear appeal PSA’s with the feeling state prior to viewing any messages. The studies showed that 61% of the PSA’s produced a significant increase in self-reported fear. The results of the remaining 39% showed either the feeling of surprise, puzzlement and even happiness. (Dillard 1996) I conducted my own personal study with three students in their early twenties.
The Essay on Public Health Services Healthy Social
HEALTH Values and Principles H 100 Health is the condition in which individuals and communities achieve their full physical, intellectual, social and spiritual potential. Health for individuals is only possible in the context of a healthy environment and society. The healthy society is one which guarantees a safe and clean environment; material security for all its citizens; good work; adequate ...
They did not know that I was going to ask them questions, since I wanted to see if they really paid attention. I taped two public service announcements and showed it to the participants. One of the PSA’s was 25 seconds long, while the other was one minute long. The shorter PSA was very brief and to the point while the other was long and detailed. When I questioned the participants, I first asked what did they think about the shorter PSA. They all answered that they really were not paying that much attention. On the other hand, the longer PSA caught their attention, it was really specific and to the point. All the participants agreed that the 60-second PSA had more information and did in fact induce some fear and thought about message being given. The third and final reason for the reason as to why I do not believe that public service announcements are not effective is because the communication campaigns advocating safe sex should have personal relevance of the topic as the first goal. According to Health Communication, consistent with expectations, participants’ sense of personal relevance or involvement with AIDS was a significant factor in spokesperson and PSA evaluation.
However, more involved participants rated the spokesperson as more credible and the PSA as more effective. (Pierce, Nathanson, Mcleod 1996) One example of personal relevance is the use of condoms. Studies have proven that men care more about the satisfaction of women during sexual intercourse. Therefore an advertisement with a women with a condom will attract men more than it will women. Another example of personal relevance is when Hispanics make a public service announcement it affected the Hispanic community more than the Caucasian. Therefore the effect of that particular announcement impacted minority community rather than the majority. In conclusion, I strongly believe that Public Service Announcements do not have a strong impact on viewers. The three reasons I believe this is in light of the Elaboration Likelihood Theory, which is what people use when they are evaluating any persuasive message. When a person is watching a Public Service Announcement they start off by elaborating using the central route which involves a lot of rationalizing and careful thought. When the message becomes confusing or mixed they then use the peripheral route. The peripheral route involves no thinking and no extensive cognitive review.
The Essay on Advertising Council Website Public Messages War
Group Advertising Council Website: Group Name: Advertising Council (professional private non-profit organization) Political Goal: Using the power of advertising the Ad Council stimulates action against the problems confronting Americans today. A private non-profit organization, the council was founded in 1942 to rally support for the war effort. The council created PSA campaigns that raised 35 ...
The second reason is the length of the Public Service Announcement. When a PSA is less than sixty seconds long, there is not enough time to evaluate the message. When this happens, fear appeals are useless. Public Service Announcements need to be at least a minute in length so there will be enough time to analyze and respond to the message, either with fear or sadness. The final reason is the personal relevance to the spokesperson or persons. The viewers need to be able to relate to the people who are trying to induce fear. If a person can not relate to the people sending the message, then the PSA becomes just another commercial, which completely defeats the purpose. I personally experienced this first hand, since I conducted a study of my own which proved my beliefs. I analyzed three people and all of them had the same thing to say. Public Service Announcements that are longer in length affect the viewer in a more emotional way, while the shorter PSA just gets to the point with no feeling involved. Are public service announcements effective when using fear appeals to convince people of something, such as safe sex to cease the spread of AIDS? I believe they are not.
There are three reasons I believe this. The first reason is in light of the Elaboration Likelihood Theory, which depends on the way people process message. People use one of two routes when evaluating messages in the public service announcements, the central and peripheral. The second reason is fear appeals tend to be less effective when used in short televised public announcements. They are more appropriate for formats that allow more elaborate and longer messages to reinforce self-efficacy. The third and final reason is communication campaigns advocating safe sex should have personal relevance of the topic as the first goal. The first reason I believe public service announcements are not effective when using fear appeals is because of the elaboration likelihood theory. The theory is best used when evaluating persuasive messages. The central route is the first route used when viewing a public service announcement. A person elaborating on persuasive message will seriously think about the message being perceived. When the messages become confusing people will switch to using the peripheral route. According to Elaboration Likelihood, high involvement with an issue is associated with central processing which focuses on the quality of the arguments in the messages.
The Term Paper on Public Relations
Public relations is the process used by businesses or organizations to present the most favorable image for them to the public. It is the responsibility for public relations professionals to provide carefully crafted information to the target audience about the individual, its goals and accomplishments, and any thing else that may be of public interest. The public relations professional also helps ...
However, peripheral processing marks low involvement. The Elaboration Likelihood would argue that involvement would interact with spokesperson and appeal, so that spokesperson and appeal will be less involved participants. The second reason why I believe fear appeals do not affect people is because of the length of public service announcements. According to Spokesperson Sex and PSA Appeal, although PSA included important fear appeal features (threat and fear), it might not have presented enough information to cue feelings. Studies have proven that when public service announcements are less than fifty seconds long, participants will not be able to analyze to the fullest extent. At times, the feeling of anger or even sadness would appear. The test was consisted of a paired sample tests that contrasted the affect induced by each of the 31 fear appeal PSA’s with the feeling state prior to viewing any messages. The studies showed that 61% of the PSA’s produced a significant increase in self-reported fear. The results of the remaining 39% showed either the feeling of surprise, puzzlement and even happiness. (Dillard 1996) I conducted my own personal study with three students in their early twenties.
They did not know that I was going to ask them questions, since I wanted to see if they really paid attention. I taped two public service announcements and showed it to the participants. One of the PSA’s was 25 seconds long, while the other was one minute long. The shorter PSA was very brief and to the point while the other was long and detailed. When I questioned the participants, I first asked what did they think about the shorter PSA. They all answered that they really were not paying that much attention. On the other hand, the longer PSA caught their attention, it was really specific and to the point. All the participants agreed that the 60-second PSA had more information and did in fact induce some fear and thought about message being given. The third and final reason for the reason as to why I do not believe that public service announcements are not effective is because the communication campaigns advocating safe sex should have personal relevance of the topic as the first goal. According to Health Communication, consistent with expectations, participants’ sense of personal relevance or involvement with AIDS was a significant factor in spokesperson and PSA evaluation.
However, more involved participants rated the spokesperson as more credible and the PSA as more effective. (Pierce, Nathanson, Mcleod 1996) One example of personal relevance is the use of condoms. Studies have proven that men care more about the satisfaction of women during sexual intercourse. Therefore an advertisement with a women with a condom will attract men more than it will women. Another example of personal relevance is when Hispanics make a public service announcement it affected the Hispanic community more than the Caucasian. Therefore the effect of that particular announcement impacted minority community rather than the majority. In conclusion, I strongly believe that Public Service Announcements do not have a strong impact on viewers. The three reasons I believe this is in light of the Elaboration Likelihood Theory, which is what people use when they are evaluating any persuasive message. When a person is watching a Public Service Announcement they start off by elaborating using the central route which involves a lot of rationalizing and careful thought. When the message becomes confusing or mixed they then use the peripheral route. The peripheral route involves no thinking and no extensive cognitive review.
The second reason is the length of the Public Service Announcement. When a PSA is less than sixty seconds long, there is not enough time to evaluate the message. When this happens, fear appeals are useless. Public Service Announcements need to be at least a minute in length so there will be enough time to analyze and respond to the message, either with fear or sadness. The final reason is the personal relevance to the spokesperson or persons. The viewers need to be able to relate to the people who are trying to induce fear. If a person can not relate to the people sending the message, then the PSA becomes just another commercial, which completely defeats the purpose. I personally experienced this first hand, since I conducted a study of my own which proved my beliefs. I analyzed three people and all of them had the same thing to say. Public Service Announcements that are longer in length affect the viewer in a more emotional way, while the shorter PSA just gets to the point with no feeling involved. Are public service announcements effective when using fear appeals to convince people of something, such as safe sex to cease the spread of AIDS? I believe they are not.
There are three reasons I believe this. The first reason is in light of the Elaboration Likelihood Theory, which depends on the way people process message. People use one of two routes when evaluating messages in the public service announcements, the central and peripheral. The second reason is fear appeals tend to be less effective when used in short televised public announcements. They are more appropriate for formats that allow more elaborate and longer messages to reinforce self-efficacy. The third and final reason is communication campaigns advocating safe sex should have personal relevance of the topic as the first goal. The first reason I believe public service announcements are not effective when using fear appeals is because of the elaboration likelihood theory. The theory is best used when evaluating persuasive messages. The central route is the first route used when viewing a public service announcement. A person elaborating on persuasive message will seriously think about the message being perceived. When the messages become confusing people will switch to using the peripheral route. According to Elaboration Likelihood, high involvement with an issue is associated with central processing which focuses on the quality of the arguments in the messages.
However, peripheral processing marks low involvement. The Elaboration Likelihood would argue that involvement would interact with spokesperson and appeal, so that spokesperson and appeal will be less involved participants. The second reason why I believe fear appeals do not affect people is because of the length of public service announcements. According to Spokesperson Sex and PSA Appeal, although PSA included important fear appeal features (threat and fear), it might not have presented enough information to cue feelings. Studies have proven that when public service announcements are less than fifty seconds long, participants will not be able to analyze to the fullest extent. At times, the feeling of anger or even sadness would appear. The test was consisted of a paired sample tests that contrasted the affect induced by each of the 31 fear appeal PSA’s with the feeling state prior to viewing any messages. The studies showed that 61% of the PSA’s produced a significant increase in self-reported fear. The results of the remaining 39% showed either the feeling of surprise, puzzlement and even happiness. (Dillard 1996) I conducted my own personal study with three students in their early twenties.
They did not know that I was going to ask them questions, since I wanted to see if they really paid attention. I taped two public service announcements and showed it to the participants. One of the PSA’s was 25 seconds long, while the other was one minute long. The shorter PSA was very brief and to the point while the other was long and detailed. When I questioned the participants, I first asked what did they think about the shorter PSA. They all answered that they really were not paying that much attention. On the other hand, the longer PSA caught their attention, it was really specific and to the point. All the participants agreed that the 60-second PSA had more information and did in fact induce some fear and thought about message being given. The third and final reason for the reason as to why I do not believe that public service announcements are not effective is because the communication campaigns advocating safe sex should have personal relevance of the topic as the first goal. According to Health Communication, consistent with expectations, participants’ sense of personal relevance or involvement with AIDS was a significant factor in spokesperson and PSA evaluation.
However, more involved participants rated the spokesperson as more credible and the PSA as more effective. (Pierce, Nathanson, Mcleod 1996) One example of personal relevance is the use of condoms. Studies have proven that men care more about the satisfaction of women during sexual intercourse. Therefore an advertisement with a women with a condom will attract men more than it will women. Another example of personal relevance is when Hispanics make a public service announcement it affected the Hispanic community more than the Caucasian. Therefore the effect of that particular announcement impacted minority community rather than the majority. In conclusion, I strongly believe that Public Service Announcements do not have a strong impact on viewers. The three reasons I believe this is in light of the Elaboration Likelihood Theory, which is what people use when they are evaluating any persuasive message. When a person is watching a Public Service Announcement they start off by elaborating using the central route which involves a lot of rationalizing and careful thought. When the message becomes confusing or mixed they then use the peripheral route. The peripheral route involves no thinking and no extensive cognitive review.
The second reason is the length of the Public Service Announcement. When a PSA is less than sixty seconds long, there is not enough time to evaluate the message. When this happens, fear appeals are useless. Public Service Announcements need to be at least a minute in length so there will be enough time to analyze and respond to the message, either with fear or sadness. The final reason is the personal relevance to the spokesperson or persons. The viewers need to be able to relate to the people who are trying to induce fear. If a person can not relate to the people sending the message, then the PSA becomes just another commercial, which completely defeats the purpose. I personally experienced this first hand, since I conducted a study of my own which proved my beliefs. I analyzed three people and all of them had the same thing to say. Public Service Announcements that are longer in length affect the viewer in a more emotional way, while the shorter PSA just gets to the point with no feeling involved. Are public service announcements effective when using fear appeals to convince people of something, such as safe sex to cease the spread of AIDS? I believe they are not.
There are three reasons I believe this. The first reason is in light of the Elaboration Likelihood Theory, which depends on the way people process message. People use one of two routes when evaluating messages in the public service announcements, the central and peripheral. The second reason is fear appeals tend to be less effective when used in short televised public announcements. They are more appropriate for formats that allow more elaborate and longer messages to reinforce self-efficacy. The third and final reason is communication campaigns advocating safe sex should have personal relevance of the topic as the first goal. The first reason I believe public service announcements are not effective when using fear appeals is because of the elaboration likelihood theory. The theory is best used when evaluating persuasive messages. The central route is the first route used when viewing a public service announcement. A person elaborating on persuasive message will seriously think about the message being perceived. When the messages become confusing people will switch to using the peripheral route. According to Elaboration Likelihood, high involvement with an issue is associated with central processing which focuses on the quality of the arguments in the messages.
However, peripheral processing marks low involvement. The Elaboration Likelihood would argue that involvement would interact with spokesperson and appeal, so that spokesperson and appeal will be less involved participants. The second reason why I believe fear appeals do not affect people is because of the length of public service announcements. According to Spokesperson Sex and PSA Appeal, although PSA included important fear appeal features (threat and fear), it might not have presented enough information to cue feelings. Studies have proven that when public service announcements are less than fifty seconds long, participants will not be able to analyze to the fullest extent. At times, the feeling of anger or even sadness would appear. The test was consisted of a paired sample tests that contrasted the affect induced by each of the 31 fear appeal PSA’s with the feeling state prior to viewing any messages. The studies showed that 61% of the PSA’s produced a significant increase in self-reported fear. The results of the remaining 39% showed either the feeling of surprise, puzzlement and even happiness. (Dillard 1996) I conducted my own personal study with three students in their early twenties.
They did not know that I was going to ask them questions, since I wanted to see if they really paid attention. I taped two public service announcements and showed it to the participants. One of the PSA’s was 25 seconds long, while the other was one minute long. The shorter PSA was very brief and to the point while the other was long and detailed. When I questioned the participants, I first asked what did they think about the shorter PSA. They all answered that they really were not paying that much attention. On the other hand, the longer PSA caught their attention, it was really specific and to the point. All the participants agreed that the 60-second PSA had more information and did in fact induce some fear and thought about message being given. The third and final reason for the reason as to why I do not believe that public service announcements are not effective is because the communication campaigns advocating safe sex should have personal relevance of the topic as the first goal. According to Health Communication, consistent with expectations, participants’ sense of personal relevance or involvement with AIDS was a significant factor in spokesperson and PSA evaluation.
However, more involved participants rated the spokesperson as more credible and the PSA as more effective. (Pierce, Nathanson, Mcleod 1996) One example of personal relevance is the use of condoms. Studies have proven that men care more about the satisfaction of women during sexual intercourse. Therefore an advertisement with a women with a condom will attract men more than it will women. Another example of personal relevance is when Hispanics make a public service announcement it affected the Hispanic community more than the Caucasian. Therefore the effect of that particular announcement impacted minority community rather than the majority. In conclusion, I strongly believe that Public Service Announcements do not have a strong impact on viewers. The three reasons I believe this is in light of the Elaboration Likelihood Theory, which is what people use when they are evaluating any persuasive message. When a person is watching a Public Service Announcement they start off by elaborating using the central route which involves a lot of rationalizing and careful thought. When the message becomes confusing or mixed they then use the peripheral route. The peripheral route involves no thinking and no extensive cognitive review.
The second reason is the length of the Public Service Announcement. When a PSA is less than sixty seconds long, there is not enough time to evaluate the message. When this happens, fear appeals are useless. Public Service Announcements need to be at least a minute in length so there will be enough time to analyze and respond to the message, either with fear or sadness. The final reason is the personal relevance to the spokesperson or persons. The viewers need to be able to relate to the people who are trying to induce fear. If a person can not relate to the people sending the message, then the PSA becomes just another commercial, which completely defeats the purpose. I personally experienced this first hand, since I conducted a study of my own which proved my beliefs. I analyzed three people and all of them had the same thing to say. Public Service Announcements that are longer in length affect the viewer in a more emotional way, while the shorter PSA just gets to the point with no feeling involved. Are public service announcements effective when using fear appeals to convince people of something, such as safe sex to cease the spread of AIDS? I believe they are not.
There are three reasons I believe this. The first reason is in light of the Elaboration Likelihood Theory, which depends on the way people process message. People use one of two routes when evaluating messages in the public service announcements, the central and peripheral. The second reason is fear appeals tend to be less effective when used in short televised public announcements. They are more appropriate for formats that allow more elaborate and longer messages to reinforce self-efficacy. The third and final reason is communication campaigns advocating safe sex should have personal relevance of the topic as the first goal. The first reason I believe public service announcements are not effective when using fear appeals is because of the elaboration likelihood theory. The theory is best used when evaluating persuasive messages. The central route is the first route used when viewing a public service announcement. A person elaborating on persuasive message will seriously think about the message being perceived. When the messages become confusing people will switch to using the peripheral route. According to Elaboration Likelihood, high involvement with an issue is associated with central processing which focuses on the quality of the arguments in the messages.
However, peripheral processing marks low involvement. The Elaboration Likelihood would argue that involvement would interact with spokesperson and appeal, so that spokesperson and appeal will be less involved participants. The second reason why I believe fear appeals do not affect people is because of the length of public service announcements. According to Spokesperson Sex and PSA Appeal, although PSA included important fear appeal features (threat and fear), it might not have presented enough information to cue feelings. Studies have proven that when public service announcements are less than fifty seconds long, participants will not be able to analyze to the fullest extent. At times, the feeling of anger or even sadness would appear. The test was consisted of a paired sample tests that contrasted the affect induced by each of the 31 fear appeal PSA’s with the feeling state prior to viewing any messages. The studies showed that 61% of the PSA’s produced a significant increase in self-reported fear. The results of the remaining 39% showed either the feeling of surprise, puzzlement and even happiness. (Dillard 1996) I conducted my own personal study with three students in their early twenties.
They did not know that I was going to ask them questions, since I wanted to see if they really paid attention. I taped two public service announcements and showed it to the participants. One of the PSA’s was 25 seconds long, while the other was one minute long. The shorter PSA was very brief and to the point while the other was long and detailed. When I questioned the participants, I first asked what did they think about the shorter PSA. They all answered that they really were not paying that much attention. On the other hand, the longer PSA caught their attention, it was really specific and to the point. All the participants agreed that the 60-second PSA had more information and did in fact induce some fear and thought about message being given. The third and final reason for the reason as to why I do not believe that public service announcements are not effective is because the communication campaigns advocating safe sex should have personal relevance of the topic as the first goal. According to Health Communication, consistent with expectations, participants’ sense of personal relevance or involvement with AIDS was a significant factor in spokesperson and PSA evaluation.
However, more involved participants rated the spokesperson as more credible and the PSA as more effective. (Pierce, Nathanson, Mcleod 1996) One example of personal relevance is the use of condoms. Studies have proven that men care more about the satisfaction of women during sexual intercourse. Therefore an advertisement with a women with a condom will attract men more than it will women. Another example of personal relevance is when Hispanics make a public service announcement it affected the Hispanic community more than the Caucasian. Therefore the effect of that particular announcement impacted minority community rather than the majority. In conclusion, I strongly believe that Public Service Announcements do not have a strong impact on viewers. The three reasons I believe this is in light of the Elaboration Likelihood Theory, which is what people use when they are evaluating any persuasive message. When a person is watching a Public Service Announcement they start off by elaborating using the central route which involves a lot of rationalizing and careful thought. When the message becomes confusing or mixed they then use the peripheral route. The peripheral route involves no thinking and no extensive cognitive review.
The second reason is the length of the Public Service Announcement. When a PSA is less than sixty seconds long, there is not enough time to evaluate the message. When this happens, fear appeals are useless. Public Service Announcements need to be at least a minute in length so there will be enough time to analyze and respond to the message, either with fear or sadness. The final reason is the personal relevance to the spokesperson or persons. The viewers need to be able to relate to the people who are trying to induce fear. If a person can not relate to the people sending the message, then the PSA becomes just another commercial, which completely defeats the purpose. I personally experienced this first hand, since I conducted a study of my own which proved my beliefs. I analyzed three people and all of them had the same thing to say. Public Service Announcements that are longer in length affect the viewer in a more emotional way, while the shorter PSA just gets to the point with no feeling involved.
Bibliography:
Dillard,J., Edgar, T., Freimuth, V., Godbold, L.,and Plotnick, C. (1996).
The Multiple Affective Outcomes of AIDS PSA? s: Fear Appeals Do More than Scare People. Communication Research, 23,1, 44-72. McLeod, D., Nathanson, A., Perse, E. (1996).
Effects of Spokesperson Sex, Public Service Announcement Appeal, and Involvement on Evaluations of Safe- Sex PSA?. Health Communication, 8, 2, 171-189.
