PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY CAMPAIGNS: IMPACT OF CULTURE

COMMUNICATING RISKS

MECM90034

IN THIS WEEK…

• Public communication campaigns with aims to

reduce risks in our lives and promote positive

outcomes

• Focusing more on not-for-profit organisations’

health/safety campaigns

• Why do we learn this?

GOALS OF PUBLIC COMMUNIC ATION C AMPAIGNS

• To avert harms (e.g., alcohol abuse, smoking, substance use, sexual risk

behaviour).

• To promote a healthier (and safer) lifestyle.

• To convince people to change behaviour for the benefit of themselves or

society as a whole.

DEMARKETING

• The use of marketing technics to limit or discourage the consumption

of a product or service.

• Coined by Kotler and Levy in 1971.

• General demarketing: When an organization wants to demarket to everyone

(e.g., the government’s discouraging alcohol consumption by levying tax on

alcohol)

• Selective demarketing: When an organization wants to demark to a specific

target segment (e.g., the government’s discouraging smoking among

teenagers)

• Discouraging excessive energy consumption

• Discouraging tobacco and alcohol consumption

• Banning illegal drugs

• Promoting health good and beverage against junk food to prevent

childhood obesity

DEMARKETING EXAMPLES

• Public information campaign

DEMARKETING

• Counter advertising

DEMARKETING

• Price manipulation by indirect taxation

• Limiting advertising

• Putting warning labels

DEMARKETING

• Not all campaigns are about “limiting” or “discouraging.”

• You can also encourage people to do something (not discourage or limit)

DEM ARKETING IS NOT THE ONLY OPTION TO TAKE

MESSAGE STRATEGIES

• Information-oriented approach

• Emotional strategies

TAK NAK (MALAYSIA)

MESSAGE STRATEGIES: MORE ABOUT FEAR APPEAL

• One of the most common tactics employed in health campaigns.

• Motivating behavioral changes by threatening the audience with

harmful outcomes from committing an unhealthy behavior.

• Characterised by vivid, graphic, and gory simulation messages.

• It is effective when…

• The message emphasises the severity of a risk and the susceptibility of

the message recipients to the risk.

• The message includes an efficacy message.

MESSAGE STRATEGIES: GAIN-LOSS FRAMING

• Gain frame

• Focusing on positive aspects

• Emphasise the benefits of following the recommended actions

• Examples

• “You will live longer if you quit smoking.”

• “If you use condoms, you will protect yourself from STD.”

• Loss frame

• Focusing on negative aspects

• Emphasise the risks of not following the recommended actions

• Examples

• “You will die sooner if you don’t quit smoking.”

• “If you don’t use condoms, you will put yourself at risk for STD.”

GAIN VS. LOSS FRAME

• Mixed findings have been reported.

• Various factors should be considered.

(e.g., one’s assessment of and vulnerability to risks, self-efficacy, personal

situation, etc.)

PROTECTION MOTIVATION THEORY

Rewards

Severity

Vulnerability

Response efficacy

Self-efficacy

Response cost

Coping appraisal

Threat appraisal

Protection Behaviour

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HOW WILL YOU APPLY PMT WHEN DEVELOPING AND EVALUATING PUBLIC COMMUNIC ATION C AMPAIGNS?

WHAT MAKES EFFECTIVE COMMUNIC ATION?

• Provide the public with meaningful, accurate and relevant information.

• Messages containing instructions on recommended actions must be

specific.

• Messages should be tailored for the diverse audiences.

• Provision of information may not be sufficient. You should also help your

audience understand the complexities and uncertainties associated with the

nature and control of a risk.