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Background: The necessary first steps for televised media campaign effects are population exposure and recall. To maximise the impact of campaign funding, it is critical to identify modifiable factors that increase the efficiency of an advertisement reaching the target audience and of their recalling that advertisement., Methods: Data come from a serial cross-sectional telephone survey with weekly interviews of adult smokers and recent quitters from the state of New South Wales, Australia, collected between April 2005 and December 2010 (total n=13 301). Survey data were merged with commercial TV ratings data (Gross Rating Points (GRPs)) to estimate individuals' exposure to antismoking campaigns., Results: Multivariable logistic regression analyses indicated that GRPs and broadcasting recency were positively associated with advertisement recall, such that advertisements broadcast more at higher levels or in more recent weeks were more likely to be recalled. Advertisements were more likely to be recalled in their launch phase than in following periods. Controlling for broadcasting parameters, advertisements higher in emotional intensity were more likely to be recalled than those low in emotion; and emotionally intense advertisements required fewer GRPs to achieve high levels of recall than lower emotion advertisements. There was some evidence for a diminishing effect of increased GRPs on recall., Conclusions: In order to achieve sufficient levels of population recall of antismoking campaigns, advertisements need to be broadcast at adequate levels in relatively frequent cycles. Advertisements with highly emotional content may offer the most efficient means by which to increase population recall.

Issue addressed: Australia has smoking prevalence of less than 15% among adults, but there are concerns that the rates of decline have stabilised. Sustained mass media campaigns are central to decreasing prevalence, and the emotions evoked by campaigns contribute to their impact. This study investigates the association between potential exposure to campaigns that evoke different emotions on quitting salience (thinking about quitting), quitting intentions and quitting attempts. Methods: Data on quitting outcomes were obtained from weekly cross‐sectional telephone surveys with adult smokers and recent quitters between 2013 and 2018. Campaign activity data were collated, and population‐level potential campaign exposure was measured by time and dose. Results: Using multivariate analyses, a positive association between potential exposure to 'hope' campaigns and thinking about quitting and intending to quit was noted, but no association was seen with quit attempts. Potential exposure to 'sadness' evoking campaigns was positively associated with quitting salience and negatively associated with quit attempts, whereas those potentially exposed to campaigns evoking multiple negative emotions (fear, guilt and sadness) were approximately 30% more likely to make a quit attempt. Conclusions: This study suggests a relationship between the emotional content of campaigns, quitting behaviours. Campaign planners should consider campaigns that evoke negative emotions for population‐wide efforts to bring about quitting activity alongside hopeful campaigns that promote quitting salience and quitting intentions. The emotional content of campaigns provides an additional consideration for campaigns targeting smokers and influencing quitting activity. So what?: This study demonstrates the importance of balancing the emotional content of campaigns to ensure that campaign advertising is given the greatest chance to achieve its objectives. Utilising campaigns that evoke negative emotions appear to be needed to encourage quitting attempts but maintaining hopeful campaigns to promote thinking about quitting and intending to quit is also an important component of the mix of tobacco control campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experience of transportation-being absorbed in a narrative-and its relationship to persuasion were considered in two studies exploring responses to health-promoting mass media messages. Following Epstein's (1994) cognitive-experiential self-theory, two pathways to persuasion were considered: cognitive and experiential. In Study 1 (n = 121), smokers who experienced increased transportation in response to antismoking messages reported that they would make a greater effort to quit smoking, and this effect was mediated by both experiential (emotional and self-referencing) and cognitive responses to the messages. In Study 2 (n = 110), experiential responses to magazine messages promoting skin protection were related to intentions to protect oneself, and this effect was mediated by feelings of risk. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of principles for effective health communication campaigns as well as theoretical advances in narrative persuasion in the context of health communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eliciting emotional responses to mass media messages can be an effective means of changing public health attitudes, intentions and behaviors. This conceptual paper proposes that emotional responses to such media messages can be message-referent, plot-referent, and/or self-referent. Self-referent emotional responses are expected to have a direct effect in motivating behavior change, particularly as they are likely to be associated with an increase in perceived personal risk. Message-referent and plot-referent emotional responses are proposed to have indirect effects on the individual, primarily by stimulating self-referent emotions, and prompting interpersonal discussion about the message. In this paper, it is argued that narrative is a particularly effective message format with which to elicit self-referent emotional responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]