The impact of fear appeal advertising on disposition formation in HIV/Aids related communication
Date
2008-12
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
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.
Description
Thesis (PhD (Business Management))--Stellenbosch University, 2008.
Keywords
HIV/AIDS communication, Fear appeal advertising, AIDS prevention, HIV prevention, Health promotion, Theses -- Business management, Dissertations -- Business management, Advertising -- Psychological aspects