AbstractsCommunication

Influence of Message Framing, Involvement, and Nicotine Dependence on Effectiveness of Anti-Smoking Public Service Announcements

by Wan Jung




Institution: University of Florida
Department: Advertising, Journalism and Communications
Year: 2008
Keywords: addiction, framing, involvement, psa, smoking; Journalism and Communications
Record ID: 1828121
Full text PDF: http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UFE0022338


Abstract

Studies examining message framing effects have yielded conflicting findings. Some studies find that positively framed messages are more persuasive than negatively framed messages. Other studies report reverse outcomes. This study tried to find the reasons for the conflicting results in message framing research, and found that the effects of message framing was varied depending on the involvement level and smoking addiction level. The study suggests that subjects who are more involved with smoking issue prefer negative messages, while subjects who are less involved with smoking issue prefer positive messages. The second finding is that the more dependent on cigarette smoking subjects are, the more favorable attitude toward negatively framed PSAs they tend to have. The contrary is true when anti-smoking PSAs are framed positively.