Department of Business Management

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Browsing Department of Business Management by Subject "Advertising -- Psychological aspects"

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    The effect of the level of fear appeal on attitude towards advertising and behavioural intention
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2008-03) De Villiers, Elizabeth Nicolette; Smit, Marlize; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Business Management.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Fear appeals are commonly used in the advertising of social issues, such as drunken driving. In general, researchers believe that there is a positive relationship between fear and persuasion (to adapt misbehaviour). However, there are disputes amongst fear appeal researchers about the level of fear appeal to be used. Fear appeals, like other advertising appeals employed in advertising, is dependant on the traits of the target audience. The effect of fear appeals differ for different target audiences as different people fear different matters. This study tests one of the contemporary models on the working of fear appeals, namely activation theory. Young adults are the target audience of social marketing in South Africa for anti-alcohol abuse issues, such as drunken driving. The effect of fear appeals on the target audience has never been empirically investigated in South Africa although social marketers often employ fear appeals to bring about a change in behaviour. The responses of a sample of young adults in South Africa were tested by means of a quasi-experimental design based on Thayer’s activation deactivation checklist as implemented by previous fear appeal researchers. Three television advertisements that depict three levels of fear appeal (low, medium and high) were presented to three sample groups. Significant differences in the responses of the level of fear appeal were observed after statistical analyses in terms of tension arousal, energy arousal, attitude towards the advertisement and intention to engage in drunken driving. A difference in how genders react to fear appeals was also found.
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    The impact of fear appeal advertising on disposition formation in HIV/Aids related communication
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2008-12) Terblanche-Smit, Marlize; Terblanche, Nic S.; Boshoff, Christo; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Business Management.
    Research to guide marketing practitioners in social issue-related communication remains underexplored. The increases in various social problems have caused practitioners to return to fear appeals as motivation to influence individuals to think and behave in a certain way. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is a major concern worldwide, as well as in South Africa, and some marketing communication campaigns do not seem to be producing the expected results. During 2007, an alarming 33.2 million people worldwide were infected with HIV. The African continent, and specifically sub-Saharan Africa, is still hardest hit by this pandemic. The high level of new HIV infections occurring daily in South Africa reflects the difficulties faced by HIV/AIDS education and prevention campaigns. Approximately 5.41 million people were living with HIV in 2006. This equates to about 11 percent of the total population and approximately 1 000 AIDS deaths occur every day. The social climate in South Africa has not been conducive to safe sexual messages, and there is a continuing need to encourage safe sexual behaviour, and awareness of the detrimental effects of HIV/AIDS. An estimated 60 percent of all new HIV/AIDS infections in South Africa occur in people between the ages of 15 and 25 years, with young women being more at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS than young men. This trend implies that the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic will be felt extensively in the next decade. Additionally, HIV/AIDS prevention programmes for the youth are not having the intended effect to promote partner reduction, consistent condom use and prompt treatment for sexually transmitted infections. These factors confirm that HIV/AIDS marketing communication programmes are of central importance in slowing down the spread of the disease among South African adolescents. Marketing communication is evolving to an era of tailored messages targeted at individuals and more sophisticated segmentation of target audiences. South African young adults reside in a country with diverse racial groups and cultural backgrounds. The more knowledge about their feelings and fears about HIV/AIDS become available, the more effective marketing communication can be developed. Overall marketing communication campaigns must be tailored to the specific needs of adolescents and the promotion of safer sexual behaviour should be at the core of HIV/AIDS programmes, since they are embarking on their sexual lives and are therefore open to behavioural change interventions. This study investigated whether the use of fear increases the likelihood of adopting appropriate behaviour pertaining to HIV/AIDS. Fear, attitude towards the advertisements, severity, susceptibility and efficacy were examined to ascertain the influence of fear appeals. Findings provide encouraging evidence for the persuasive power of fear appeals. Fear appeals can be a strong motivator if accompanied by high efficacy messages, to improve knowledge and to influence attitudes about HIV/AIDS. Susceptibility to the disease among adolescents also influences behaviour, and the importance of individual factors, including racial characteristics and personality, was confirmed. The empirical results of the study reveal that together with message factors like message content and media usage, the goal of changing adolescents’ sexual behaviour in the midst of the HIV/AIDS pandemic can be achieved.