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‚Extreme Negative Anti-Smoking Ads Can Backfire’

By Guest PostAugust 19, 2011Culture, Healthanti smoking television psas, anti tobacco public service announcements, backfire, boomerang effect, cancer riddled tongue, cholesterol, disturbing images, effective ways to convince smokers to quit, glenn leshner, health communicators, heart rate, human artery, kevin wise, paul bolls, physiological negative emotional response, psas, psychology, public service announcements, quit smoking, smokers, smoking, strong defensive reactions, university of missouri

*MU researchers say disgusting and threatening ads can cause strong defense responses from viewers*

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Health communicators have long searched for the most effective ways to convince smokers to quit. Now, University of Missouri researchers have found that using a combination of disturbing images and threatening messages to prevent smoking is not effective and could potentially cause an unexpected reaction.

In a study recently published in the Journal of Media Psychology, Glenn Leshner, Paul Bolls and Kevin Wise, co-directors of the Psychological Research on Information and Media Effects (PRIME) Lab at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, found that showing viewers a combination of threatening and disgusting television public service announcements (PSAs) caused viewers to experience the beginnings of strong defensive reactions. The researchers found that when viewers saw the PSAs with both threatening and disgusting material, they tended to withdraw mental resources from processing the messages while simultaneously reducing the intensity of their emotional responses. Leshner says that these types of images could possibly have a “boomerang effect,” meaning the defensive reactions could be so strong that they cause viewers to stop processing the messages in the PSAs. (more…)

YouTube PSAs: Comments More Persuasive Than Videos

Professor Joseph Walther led an MSU research project that found that comments accompanying YouTube public service announcements were more persuasive to viewers than the videos themselves. Image credit: Michigan State University

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University researchers, studying public service announcements placed on YouTube about marijuana use, have found that the comments accompanying the PSAs are more influential among viewers than the videos themselves.

The researchers showed four anti-marijuana PSAs, and the accompanying comments, to college students and asked for their evaluations of the PSAs and their attitudes about marijuana.

What was found was that negative, derisive comments about the video led the students to perceive the video as worse than when the comments were positive, even though they watched the videos individually. And when students identified with the anonymous commenters, the comments affected their perceptions of marijuana’s harmful effects.

“Generally, the comments changed people’s attitudes more than the variations of the videos,” said Joseph Walther, a professor in the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media, and the Department of Communication, who led the research. (more…)

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‚Extreme Negative Anti-Smoking Ads Can Backfire’

YouTube PSAs: Comments More Persuasive Than Videos