Fear appeals in road safety advertising: an analysis of a controversial social marketing campaign in Russia

ABSTRACT This study reports the results of a content analysis that used the Extended Parallel Processing Model (EPPM) to measure the levels of threat and self-efficacy messages in a series of controversial public service announcements (PSAs) that promoted road safety in Russia in 2008. The analysis showed that threat messages overwhelmingly outnumbered efficacy messages. The results suggest that the Russian social marketing campaign to promote road safety neglected to follow the recommended pattern of fear appeal message construction. The road safety campaign had the potential to induce fear, but the campaign messages may not have been sufficient to make the audience feel able to prevent or avoid harm by complying with the road safety rules. The results suggested that future campaign designers should give more attention to efficacy messages, particularly response efficacy messages that contain a clear call for actions and recommendations on how to prevent injury and death.