Purpose This study aims to understand the impact of rational and emotional appeals on children’s attitude towards two public service announcements (PSAs) that promoted eating fruits and vegetables. Design/methodology/approach A mixed-methods study was conducted with children aged 8 to 11. A convergent parallel design was selected that comprised a questionnaire for the quantitative approach and a semi-structured focus group for the qualitative approach. Findings The results from the quantitative and qualitative phases converged, showing that both components (i.e. emotional and rational) play a significant role in children’s preference towards an advertisement, but the emotional component appeared to be the preeminent. Research limitations/implications Future studies should use other social subjects and children of different age brackets from various countries to test whether they continue to prefer emotional appeals in advertising. Practical implications An understanding of which elements children prefer in PSAs will enable advertising campaigns and social marketing strategies with targeted approaches that respect children’s tastes to be planned. Social implications A properly designed social advertisement could have important effects on disseminating useful information, changing or preventing unhealthy habits and adopting good practices in children. Originality/value Few studies have examined the effectiveness of PSAs, especially those targeted at children. This paper contributes to extend concepts from the commercial field of advertising directed to children to the field of social advertising. To date, this field has received little attention.

This paper suggests a model that considers the effects of the children’s attitude toward Public Service Announcements—PSAs (measured through the likeability of PSAs) on their behavioural intention to eat fruits and vegetables. The suggested model was tested through an empirical analysis conducted with children aged 8 to 11 and the data were analysed through partial least squares – structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) multigroup analysis. The findings indicate that the positive emotions PSAs generate and PSA credibility mediate the effects of the children’s perceived likeability of PSAs on their behavioural intention to eat fruits and vegetables. Overall, understanding the connections between PSA likeability, positive emotions, PSA credibility and behavioural intentions can facilitate the development of further social advertisements aimed at children covering healthy eating. Therefore, the findings of this study are relevant for non-profit organizations, government institutions and advertisers interested in creating effective social messages aimed at children.

PurposeThis study aims to examine the different effects that the fear and humor appeals in anti-smoking advertisements for children have on their affective reactions to the advertisements, on their beliefs about smoking and on their behavioral intentions to smoke.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents the findings of a qualitative research study conducted in Italy with children aged from 8 to 11 years.FindingsThe results indicated that the humor appeal is a useful method for conveying a social theme in a pleasant way and creating a likable character that becomes an example for children to imitate; however, it is necessary to employ the fear appeal to make children reflect carefully about the negative consequences of smoking.Research limitations/implicationsThis study examined only children's behavioral intentions derived from anti-smoking advertisements, but future research should also examine their real behaviors after a period following repeated viewing of public service announcements about smoking prevention or other social issues.Practical implicationsUnderstanding how different types of appeals can influence children represents an important result for the prevention of youth smoking and the promotion of healthy lifestyle habits during childhood.Social implicationsUnderstanding how different types of appeals can influence children represents an important result for the prevention of youth smoking and the promotion of healthy lifestyle habits during childhood.Originality/valueFew studies have examined the impact of social advertisements on children, and particularly little is known about the effectiveness of fear appeals on this group.

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