Examining the effectiveness of physical threats in road safety advertising: The role of the third-person effect, gender, and age

Abstract

Threatening advertisements have been widely used in the social marketing of road safety.However, despite their popularity and over five decades of research into the fear-persuasion relationship, an unequivocal answer regarding their effectiveness remains unachieved. More contemporary "fear appeal" research has explored the extent other variables moderate this relationship. In this study, the third-person effect was examined to explore its association with the extent male and female drivers reported intentions to adopt the recommendations of two road safety advertisements depicting high physical threats. Drivers (N = 152) first provided responses on pre-exposure future driving intentions, subsequently viewed two advertisements, one antispeeding and one anti-drink driving, followed by measurement of their perceptions and postmanipulation intentions. The latter measure, post-manipulation intentions, was taken as the level of message acceptance for each advertisement. Results indicated a significant gender difference with females reporting reverse third-person effects (i.e., the messages would have more influence on themselves than others) and males reporting classic third-person effects (i.e., the messages would have more influence on others than themselves). Consistent with such third-person effects, females reported greater intention not to speed and not to drink and drive after being exposed to the advertisements than males. To determine the extent that third-person differential perceptions contributed to variance explained in post-manipulation intentions, hierarchical regressions were conducted. These regressions revealed that third-person scores significantly contributed to the variance explained in post-manipulation intentions, beyond the contribution of other factors including demographic characteristics, pre-exposure intentions and past behaviour. The theoretical and applied implications of the results are discussed.2

An examination of message-relevant affect in road safety messages: Should road safety advertisements aim to make us feel good or bad?

“…As predicted (Hypothesis 3), the current study's results supported previous empirical evidence (i.e., Lewis et al, 2007b) with females demonstrating an attenuation of the classic TPE and males demonstrating a classic TPE, for negative appeals of both high and low response efficacy. Thus, similar to the conclusions drawn by Lewis et al, (2007b), the TPE results derived in the current study have significant theoretical and practical implications.…”

“…Interestingly, whilst meta-analytical evidence has suggested that demographic characteristics such as gender and age have limited or no impact upon the effectiveness of fear appeals (Witte & Allen, 2000), recent evidence, found in relation to gender, has challenged this conclusion (Goldenbeld, Twisk, & Houwing, 2008;Lewis, Watson, & Tay, 2007b). For instance, Lewis et al (2007b) found that males were more likely to report appeals of high physical threats (i.e., appeals which depict death and/or injury as the consequences of unsafe/illegal behaviour) as having more influence on other drivers in general than themselves (the third-person effect [TPE], Davison, 1983;Lewis et al, 2007b). Moreover, males in this study were found to report significantly less intention to improve their future driving behaviour in relation to speeding and drink driving than females (Lewis et al, 2007b).…”

“…For instance, Lewis et al (2007b) found that males were more likely to report appeals of high physical threats (i.e., appeals which depict death and/or injury as the consequences of unsafe/illegal behaviour) as having more influence on other drivers in general than themselves (the third-person effect [TPE], Davison, 1983;Lewis et al, 2007b). Moreover, males in this study were found to report significantly less intention to improve their future driving behaviour in relation to speeding and drink driving than females (Lewis et al, 2007b).…”

“…Compared with females, males are at much greater risk of being injured or killed in road trauma and are more likely to engage in risky behaviours such as speeding and drink driving (e.g., Harré, Field, & Kirkwood, 1996). Thus, despite representing the intended target of many of the high fear-based appeals, it seems that males are not being persuaded by such messages (or, at least, relatively less so than their female counterparts; Lewis et al, 2007b). Arguably, any evidence suggesting that such appeals are not reaching their persuasive goals justifies the need for further exploration for more effective approaches.…”

Effects of Political Campaign Materials on Party and Non-Party Voting Supporters

“…4 August 2014334 http://dx.doi.org/10.15206/ajpor.2014 likelihood of message influence on the self and those closest (self and family (88%)), and other supporting voters (91%) than on the others (uncertain voters (76%), opposition supporters (78%)). These findings support the earlier research on "reverse" third-person effect or first-person effect, that message desirability plays a key role in persuasion and positive influence on self and others (Duck et al, 1995;Day, 2006;Lewis, Watson & Tay, 2007;Spinda, 2009;Lewis, Watson, & White, 2008). The study indicates that the BN respondents display a high confidence in predicting the influence of the BN political communication devices on self, others, and distant others.…”