Promoting public health messages: Should we move beyond fear-evoking appeals in road safety?

Abstract

Road traffic injury represents one of the most significant global public health issues of the 21st century. It remains a contentious public and empirical issue the extent that negative, fear-evoking messages represent effective persuasive strategies. Despite the contention, negative, fear-based appeals represent a frequently utilized approach in Australasian road safety advertising. The authors conducted a series of focus groups with 16 licensed drivers to explore the potential utility of appeals to emotions other than fear. More specifically, we sought to explore the utility of positive emotional appeals such as those incorporating humor. The themes emerging from the qualitative analysis suggested that both emotion and the provision of strategies represent key components contributing to the overall persuasiveness of a road safety advertisement. Overall, it appears there is support for researchers and health advertising practitioners to provide further attention to the role that positive emotional appeals may play in future campaigns.