CHAPTER 12: COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGNS
Chapter objectives
This final chapter examines contemporary communication campaigns. The chapter brings
together theories covered previously in the text along with introducing new macro-level theories.
Campaigns covered range from crime prevention to anti-binge-drinking interventions. The chapter
defines core concepts and a component related to communication campaigns and explains when
communication campaigns are likely to succeed and fail.
Terms and issues to know
Cognitive, affective, and behavioral concepts related to campaigns
Definition of communication campaign
Differences between advertising and public communication campaigns
Social Marketing
Social norms marketing
Stages of change
Values, ethics, and campaigns
Chapter outline
I. Thinking About Campaigns
A. Systematic, organized efforts to mold health and social attitudes through the use of
purposive communication in a relatively well-defined audience
B. Campaigns require time and effort
C. Purpose is to inform, persuade, or motivate behavior changes
D. Apply theories to practical problems
E. Ways they differ from public info counterparts
2. News plays a greater role in information campaigns than it does in advertising
4. Ad campaigns try to induce people to do something
6. Campaigns target their message at the population least likely to change its behavior
8. Campaigns are more controversial than ads
F. Locating Effects
1. Mass media effects fall into three categories
2. A campaign effect can occur on a personal level or a public level
3. Effects can be positive or negative
A. Three major models of campaigns have been developed
1. Psychological, individual-level perspective
2. Another approach combines stages of change with persuasive communication theory
a. Persuasion can be viewed as a series of input and output steps
B. Diffusion Theory
1. Developed by Everett Rogers
3. e.g. seat belts, child safety seats, bicycle helmets, jogging, sun screen lotion, etc
4. The characteristic of the innovation
a. and cultural norms,
the more likely it is to diffuse rapidly into society
b. Another attribute of an innovation is the degree to which it promises a clear, and
6. Communication plays a critical role in the spread of innovations
C. Social Marketing
2. Five strategic steps in social marketing campaign
a. Planning
b. Theory – backbone of the campaign
c. Communication analysis
i. Must be aptly applied to context
ii. Conduct formative research to probe audience perceptions
d. Implementation
i. Campaign is designed, finalized, and launched
ii. Marketing Principles are very important here
e. Evaluation and reorientation
III. Campaign Effects
A. Face up-hill battle
B. Interventions must first attract the target audience and capture its attention
C. Can turn audience OFF if too preachy or just not in sync with audience needs
D. Effects produced may not persist over time
E. They are particularly likely to succeed when practitioners:
1. Resonate with or fit the psychological needs of audience members (Wan, 2008;
Cesario Grant & Higgins, 2004)
3. Refine messages so that they are relevant, cogent, and of high production value
5. Choose media channels (PSAs, news, entertainment TV, Internet) that are viewed by
members of the target audience
7. Supplement media materials as much as possible with community contacts
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8. Appreciate that it is frequently easier to promote a new behavior than to convince
people to stop a dysfunctional behavior, such as unsafe sex (Snyder, 2001)
2002)
11. Avoid overly-moralistic messages that threaten an individual’s freedom and arouse
reactance
12. Adopt a realistic approach
IV. The McGruff Crime Prevention Project
A. Hopes of changing things for the better
B. Center piece of the campaign was a trench coat-wearing dog named McGruff
C. Regarded as a classic
V. Antismoking and Cardiovascular Risk Reduction Campaigns
A. Associate cigarettes with UGLY
B. These campaigns have applied cognitive, affective, and behavioral concepts
C. State Antismoking Campaigns
2. tumor-causing, teeth-
D. Macrosocial Picture – these campaigns take place in a heavily politicized environment
VI. Anti-drinking Campaigns
A. Campaign interventions, with solid foundations in social marketing principles, have
helped to reduce alcohol abuse
B. The Designated Driver Campaign
1. The notion that a group of friends selects one person to abstain from drinking that
evening is intuitively appealing
3. Seemed to have influenced beliefs and behaviors
4. Succeeded because:
a. Had powerful support from Hollywood insiders
C. Social Norms Marketing
2.
3. Number of universities have adopted anti-binge drinking campaigns
VII. Drug Prevention Campaigns
A. First Lady Nancy Reagan – got a lot of bad press
B.
VIII. Interventions to Reduce Health Care Disparities
A. ealth care than non–
minorities
IX. Complicating Factors
A. Campaigns work in concert with interpersonal, institutional, and cultural forces
B. Campaign succeed in changing the public environment, slowly but surely the campaign
influence behavior
X. Values and Ethics
A. If the goal is to benefit the public good, is the campaign designed to do more good for
certain members of the public than for others?
XI. Conclusions
A. Campaigns are more likely to succeed if they are based on theory, harness social
marketing principles, are aesthetically appealing, and build in corrective evaluation
mechanisms to change course in midstream
B. Values and ethics are inextricable from campaigns and remind us that campaigns
Discussion points/ projects/ exercises
1. It is widely recognized that washing one s hands is key to preventing the spread of
disease. Using the concepts of diffusion theory, what factors would you need to consider
in order to diffuse this concept and have it impact behavior?
2. What social, cultural, and political aspects of society may impact the success of a
campaign? If you were promoting a prosocial issue, how might you go about addressing
these aspects?
3. Many universities are attempting social norm marketing related to binge-drinking. Based
on your text, what types of individuals would be most persuaded by this type of appeal?