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500 Word Summary of Discussion on Fear Appeals

In the beginning, an issue with the topic was the law changing aspect. Fear appeals are usually in the form of advertisements or commercials and aim to facilitate action after fear arousal occurs. In order to discuss the example video shown, warnings on cigarette packages were referred to. This enabled the audience to over engage in the conversation somewhat. In the 1980s, the Grim Reaper campaigns (HIV) were used in Australia. Drug campaigns in the U.S focused on showing striking images such as that of brain comparisons. Traffic safety has also been the subject of these campaigns. These campaigns are based on the assumption that by vividly demonstrating negative and life-endangering consequences of risk behaviours, people will be motivated to reduce their current risk behaviour and adopt safer alternative behaviours. Such threatening messages in health promotion campaigns are, according to our survey of the class, very effective for the majority.

Most of our discussion was taken up by one of the arguments against the effectiveness of fear appeals. It is obvious that some people will react quite differently from what is expected by the people who prepare the campaign. From the main source of our research, we can say that in order to support more people in getting help, the ‘appeals’ must cater to both people who have not tried the unhealthy activity and also people who are engaging in it. Examples put forward to the audience covered opinions from both sides. The audience agreed on the necessity of positive emotions in advertisements. For example, we could target all viewers and give the statistic of ‘how many people do not engage in the unhealthy activity’ rather than showing extreme case scenarios in fear commercials. Positive social norms should be reinforced so that people can feel empowered (e.g. More people are doing what is better for themselves than not) Excitement, hope, and humour are some of the other tones required in some campaigns. (MassTAPP Education Development Center, Inc. 2012) We must associate positive emotions with positive health behaviours. I suggest more interactivity involved in campaigns, in other words less information being pushed towards people; this does not mean less scientific proof and facts and more action on-screen, but rather, an increase in people talking on-screen to those who may need help in a more interactive way. New technology will be the main facilitator of this idea. I think that this is a suitable conclusion to the discussion: ‘Prevention campaigns’ can be modified to include aspects that work to help those currently requiring help’.

Weak fear appeals may not attract enough attention but strong fear appeals may cause an individual to avoid or ignore a message by employing defence mechanisms. (California State University, Stanislau2012 p.4) It is unfortunate that many examples viewed do not necessarily include how to successfully implement actions and also lack persuasion due to the heavy focus upon generating fear. They definitely must show that it is relevant and that viewers are personally susceptible. Viewers feeling vulnerable and helpless will not act; no matter how much the topic was emphasised or explained. With regard to law, I believe that full prohibition of use and supply of drugs is the best option. The Cost of unnecessary campaigns can also be high, for example, $350,000 was spent on the New South Wales Government's widely criticized Stoner Sloth campaign. Many articles and publications have been written based on some sort of research, however the audience answering questions are likely to use personal judgements. Different methods are required. Although some appeals can influence, the opposite effect can also be seen, sometimes even more than the other.(Australasian College of Road Safety, 2003 p. 7)

Bibliography

Massachusetts Technical Assistance Partnership for Prevention (MassTAPP) Education Development Center, Inc. 2012, Talking points about scare tacticshttp://masstapp.edc.org/sites/masstapp.edc.org/files/Talking%20points%20about%20scare%20tactics_0.pdf (accessed 26 October 2016)

Williams K., California State University, Stanislau

2012, Fear appeal theory http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/11907.pdf (accessed 26 October 2016)

BJ Elliott Australasian College of Road Safety 2003,The Psychology of Fear Appeals Re-Visitedhttp://acrs.org.au/files/arsrpe/RS030056.pdf (accessed 2 November 2016)

Noah Nishihara Home Group T09