The influence of level of issue relevance and emotional appeals in public service ads on attitudes and behavioral intentions toward global climate change

Abstract

<p>This study examines the main and interactive effects of two emotional appeals (fear and happy) in public service advertisements and the degree to which this topic is assessed as relevant to people's lives on participants' attitude toward the advertisement, their attitude toward global climate change as an issue, and their intention to practice behaviors expected to mitigate global climate change. The hypotheses posed were not supported. In absolute terms, however, the results of this experiment showed that participants with high issue relevance reported more positive attitude toward the advertisement, more positive attitude toward global climate change, and greater behavioral intention after viewing a global climate change advertisement.</p>