To what extent can fear lead to sustained behavior change? Case study on seat belt use advertising in Cape Town, South Africa
Summary:
South Africa has amongst the worst road trauma rates in the world, with more than 17 000 people killed and over 68 000 people seriously injured each year. In March 2016, the Western Cape Government, launched a campaign to educate road users on the importance of using seatbelts for all occupants in a vehicle. The campaign was anchored around the First Kiss television commercial which used fear and shock tactics to raise awareness of the risks. Kantar conducted formative research, an advertising pre-test and a pre- and post-campaign seatbelt compliance observational survey, to track any shifts in compliance post-campaign exposure. The tracker showed a large increase in seatbelt compliance during and after the campaign for a short period of time. Indeed The Western Cape Road Safety department reported that its campaign had been a huge success revealing a "161% increase" in rear-seat passenger seat-belt compliance. Passenger fatalities for May 2016 were down "30% compared to 2014, 2015 numbers". This is a highly commendable level of impact. However, six months after the ad flighted, in the absence of the campaign, compliance of seatbelt usage dropped to levels prior to the campaign being initiated. This paper reports the research and the potential reasons for lack of sustained change.
Background/Objectives:
The objective of this paper is to explore the reasons why an impactful communications campaign achieved a huge immediate impact but this impact was not sustained over time. It explores the use of fear and shock in provoking behaviour change and how this can result in a lack of sustained change.
Description of Intervention and/or Methods/Design:
The research relating to this paper was extensive. It comprised quantitative knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) surveys before and after the campaign, qualitative formative research, an advertising pre-test, qualitative exploration of immediate response and behavioural impact measurements using observational methods before and after the campaign. This alongside other literature is reviewed in the paper.
Results/Lessons Learned:
Post-launch KAP research showed that the 'First Kiss' campaign was not embedded in long-term memory and was poorly recognised, with low correct brand linkage back to Safely Home or the Western Cape Government. Persuasive TV communication itself does not often lead to sustained behavior change without reinforcement from the other key change drivers (design, control, educate), so sustained change would have been challenging from a TV commercial alone. The audience may have post-rationalized their lack of compliance by the type of accident shown in the advertisement. The paper also comments on the type of formative research that may have exposed the weaknesses of the campaign.
Discussion/Implications for the Field:
From the research perspective, a key question is to what extent pre-testing could have identified the likely lack of sustained change and if formative research could have led to a more sustainable behavior change strategy. The paper discusses if the advertisement went too far in invoking fear and shock? Views have been posited that fear enhances persuasion up to some critical point, after which avoidance reactions may result in rejection of the message, and that context is critical in determining where the sweet spot is (Lewis et al). The paper explores this hypothesis.
Abstract submitted by:
Melissa Baker-Onyancha - Kantar Group
South Africa has amongst the worst road trauma rates in the world, with more than 17 000 people killed and over 68 000 people seriously injured each year. In March 2016, the Western Cape Government, launched a campaign to educate road users on the importance of using seatbelts for all occupants in a vehicle. The campaign was anchored around the First Kiss television commercial which used fear and shock tactics to raise awareness of the risks. Kantar conducted formative research, an advertising pre-test and a pre- and post-campaign seatbelt compliance observational survey, to track any shifts in compliance post-campaign exposure. The tracker showed a large increase in seatbelt compliance during and after the campaign for a short period of time. Indeed The Western Cape Road Safety department reported that its campaign had been a huge success revealing a "161% increase" in rear-seat passenger seat-belt compliance. Passenger fatalities for May 2016 were down "30% compared to 2014, 2015 numbers". This is a highly commendable level of impact. However, six months after the ad flighted, in the absence of the campaign, compliance of seatbelt usage dropped to levels prior to the campaign being initiated. This paper reports the research and the potential reasons for lack of sustained change.
Background/Objectives:
The objective of this paper is to explore the reasons why an impactful communications campaign achieved a huge immediate impact but this impact was not sustained over time. It explores the use of fear and shock in provoking behaviour change and how this can result in a lack of sustained change.
Description of Intervention and/or Methods/Design:
The research relating to this paper was extensive. It comprised quantitative knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) surveys before and after the campaign, qualitative formative research, an advertising pre-test, qualitative exploration of immediate response and behavioural impact measurements using observational methods before and after the campaign. This alongside other literature is reviewed in the paper.
Results/Lessons Learned:
Post-launch KAP research showed that the 'First Kiss' campaign was not embedded in long-term memory and was poorly recognised, with low correct brand linkage back to Safely Home or the Western Cape Government. Persuasive TV communication itself does not often lead to sustained behavior change without reinforcement from the other key change drivers (design, control, educate), so sustained change would have been challenging from a TV commercial alone. The audience may have post-rationalized their lack of compliance by the type of accident shown in the advertisement. The paper also comments on the type of formative research that may have exposed the weaknesses of the campaign.
Discussion/Implications for the Field:
From the research perspective, a key question is to what extent pre-testing could have identified the likely lack of sustained change and if formative research could have led to a more sustainable behavior change strategy. The paper discusses if the advertisement went too far in invoking fear and shock? Views have been posited that fear enhances persuasion up to some critical point, after which avoidance reactions may result in rejection of the message, and that context is critical in determining where the sweet spot is (Lewis et al). The paper explores this hypothesis.
Abstract submitted by:
Melissa Baker-Onyancha - Kantar Group
Source
Approved abstract for the postponed 2020 SBCC Summit in Marrakech, Morocco. Provided by the International Steering Committee for the Summit. Image credit: News24
