Watch the ads, Save the Earth, Does it work?
April 23, 2008
What do you think about global warming? Do you make any special effort to help curb this phenomena? With Earth Day just over and Earth hour happening a month ago, it seems that global warming is becoming a big issue. In CNN.com news website, it was reported that many countries took part in Earth hour by switching off their lights. When you go to the supermarkets nowadays, incentive in the form of discounts are given when you bring your own bags. Some places require you to purchase plastic bags to lessen the usage.
Different people might have different attitudes towards such movements. A person with a positive attitude towards such movements and when their subjective norm support this behavior will most probably engage in ways to help. Subjective norms are individuals’ feelings of social pressure to perform or not to perform an action. They are based on the person beliefs that others want or do not want them to perform the action. Therefore, when a person feels that the people around him or her would want them to have a part in curbing this phenomena, they become more likely to engage in behaviors like saving electricity and bringing their own bags.
However, not everyone has similar attitude. Some people see it as a marketing gimmick used by supermarkets, a trend, a big fuss, thinking that it’s all a hoax, or impossible to happen. So how can their attitude be changed?
Advertisements have been created to persuade people. Using the elaboration likelihood model, it can be seen that both advertisements via the central and peripheral route to persuasion have been created.
An example of an advertisement via the peripheral route is this
It doesn’t provide much information and seems to be using the peripheral route to persuasion as it invokes humor and may condition the person watching it to feel good about it. Besides, it doesn’t require much cognitive elements. However, for people who rely on information, this advertisement might not work for them.
An example of an advertisement via the central route to persuasion is this
It provides information about how one can help save energy. With all the information, people can rationalize if changing their attitude to save energy is beneficial or not.
Of course, having people to change attitude isn’t that easy as there are a lot of other factors present. So have the advertisements worked for you?
May 8, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Very good post. This is something I usually think about too. Slightly differently, though. In terms of Climate Change (CC), I used to think about how best to appeal to the general public when it comes to something of this nature. Using the central route of persuasion must be evidently difficult. probably due to the lack of a significant impact to everyday life. CC occurs quite subtly. Only empirical data has continued to show the trends in CC. But regular people do not see the impact of these kind of findings. on the flipside, I’ve always criticized the use of peripheral route (using governors, celebrity spokepersons, product brands, cartoons, etc.) in sending this message out. Nothing that great has been achieved from this route. But, it seems like its the only one that has made a significant impact. y’know? I guess it may be the only way. But I still believe that the message of CC should be taken more seriously. yeah. good post!
May 9, 2008 at 4:34 am
i think that such advertisements provide a good laugh but have little effect as to bringing the message across to people. i think that is so because i don’t feel the impact of how the world is depleting. i feel a more serious advertisement would bring the message across to me.
May 9, 2008 at 10:09 am
I think the second video would work better for me, because those earth-saving behaviours in the video seem more relevant to me, since I spend more time at home as compared to going to the supermarket. In addition, as the second video uses cartoon animation, I think it’s really easy for people to ‘model’ the behaviours in the video (PS: I’ve learnt something from the video, & that is, I should be concentrating on watching my tv alone only, lol….)