Bleakley Amy, Jordan Amy B, Hennessy Michael, Glanz Karen, Strasser Andrew, Vaala Sarah
a Annenberg Public Policy Center , University of Pennsylvania , Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , USA.
J Health Commun. 2015 Aug;20(8):938-48. doi: 10.1080/10810730.2015.1018593. Epub 2015 Jun 9.
Mass media campaigns are a commonly used approach to reduce sugary drink consumption, which is linked to obesity in children and adolescents. The present study investigated the direct and mediated effects of emotional appeals in public service advertisements (PSAs) that aired between 2010 and 2012 on adolescents' intention to reduce their sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption. An online randomized experiment was conducted with a national sample of adolescent respondents ages 13 to 17 years old (N = 805). Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions. Three experimental conditions represented PSAs with different emotional appeals: humor, fear, and nurturance, plus a fourth control condition. The outcome was adolescents' intention to cut back on SSBs. The direct effect of fear appeals on intention was mediated through adolescents' perception of the PSAs' argument strength; perceived argument strength was also the key mediator for the indirect effects of humor and nurturance on intention. Several hypothesized mediators influenced by the appeals were not associated with intention. This is the first study to test the effect of persuasive emotional appeals used in SSB-related PSAs. The perceived strength of the PSAs' arguments is important to consider in the communication of messages designed to reduce SSB consumption.
大众媒体宣传活动是一种常用的减少含糖饮料消费的方法，含糖饮料消费与儿童和青少年肥胖有关。本研究调查了2010年至2012年期间播出的公益广告（PSA）中的情感诉求对青少年减少含糖饮料（SSB）消费意愿的直接和中介效应。对13至17岁的全国青少年样本（N = 805）进行了一项在线随机实验。参与者被随机分配到4种条件中的1种。三个实验条件分别代表具有不同情感诉求的公益广告：幽默、恐惧和关爱，外加第四个对照条件。结果是青少年减少含糖饮料消费的意愿。恐惧诉求对意愿的直接效应是通过青少年对公益广告论据强度的感知来介导的；感知到的论据强度也是幽默和关爱对意愿产生间接效应的关键中介因素。受这些诉求影响的几个假设中介因素与意愿无关。这是第一项测试与含糖饮料相关的公益广告中使用的有说服力的情感诉求效果的研究。在设计旨在减少含糖饮料消费的信息传播中，考虑公益广告论据的感知强度很重要。
