9 Mar, 2010 in
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FRIDAY, March 5 (HealthDay News) — Some types of anti-drinking ads can backfire, suggests a U.S. study. Researchers interviewed more than 1,200 undergraduate students after they were shown ads that used guilt or shame to warn against alcohol abuse. Such ads may actually trigger an instinctive coping mechanism that enables people who see them to distance themselves from the harmful as well as potentially deadly consequences of reckless drinking, the researchers found. In other words, people believe that such consequences happen only to other people as well as, as a result, they may drink even more alcohol. “Advertisements are capable of bringing forth feelings so unpleasant that we’re compelled to eliminate them by whatever means likely,” Adam Duhachek, a marketing professor at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business as well as a co-author of the study, said in a university news release. “This motivation is sufficiently powerful to convince us we’re immune to certain risks.”
The unintended negative impact of ads that take guilt as well as shame to try to change behavior can as well as occur in other health-related campaigns, such as trying to get people to quit smoking or protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases, he added. “The community health as well as marketing communities expend considerable effort as well as capital on these campaigns but possess extended suspected they were less effective than hoped,” Duhachek noted. “But the situation is worse than wasted money or effort. These ads ultimately may do more harm than pleasant because they possess the potential to spur more of the behavior they’re trying to halt.” He suggested that community health ads that point out humorless consequences of a behavior should as well as include messages of empowerment, such as providing strategies for people to control their drinking. “If you’re going to communicate a frightening scenario, temper it with the idea that it’s avoidable,” Duhachek said. “It’s best to take the carrot along with the stick.” The study will be published in the April issue of the Journal of Marketing Research. – Robert Preidt Copyright © 2010 HealthDay. All rights reserved. |
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