Pechmann,
C., G. Zhao, M.E. Goldberg and E.T. Reibling (2003), "What to Convey in
Antismoking Advertisements for Adolescents? The Use of Protection Motivation Theory
to Identify Effective Message Themes," Journal of
Marketing, 67 (April), 1-18.
article
abstract:
Antismoking advertising is increasingly utilized but its message content
is controversial. In an initial study in which adolescents coded 194 advertisements,
we identified seven common messages. Using Protection Motivation Theory,
we developed hypotheses regarding the messages' effects on cognitions
and intentions, which we then tested in an experiment involving 1,667
adolescents. Three of the seven messages increased adolescents' intentions
not to smoke relative to a control; all did so by enhancing perceptions
that smoking poses severe social rejection risks. Other messages increased
health risk severity perceptions, but such perceptions either had null
or counterproductive effects on nonsmoking intentions, due to adolescents'
perceived invulnerability to health risks.
