Sugar-Sweetened Beverage-Related Public Service Advertisements and Their Influence on Parents

Abstract

In this article, we describe a novel experimental approach for identifying the effectiveness of distinct persuasive strategies used in audiovisual (television-format) public service advertisements (PSAs) designed to encourage parents to reduce their children’s sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption. Eight-hundred and seven parents were assigned to one of three experimental conditions with exposure to PSAs using distinct emotional appeals (fear, humor, and nurturance) or a control (non-SSB PSA). Parents’ emotional and cognitive responses to the ads and intentions to cut back on their child’s SSB consumption were assessed using a path analysis. Findings show no significant difference in the experimental versus control groups on intention to reduce children’s intake. However, parents who had greater feelings of empowerment and hope, and greater perceived argument strength post-PSA viewing were significantly more likely to intend to cut back their children’s SSB consumption. Additionally, parent characteristics moderated the paths between the experimental conditions and mediators. Fathers felt significantly less empowerment/hope and fewer positive emotions than mothers in the humor condition, and lighter SSB consumers felt significantly less empowerment and hope and positive emotions than heavy SSB consumers in the fear condition. The findings of this study suggest that health-related messages directed at parents may be most effective if they present strong arguments and elicit feelings of empowerment and hope.