Children, healthy eating and “threat appeals” : An investigation on their effectiveness and working processes

(eng) This dissertation aimed at identifying the potential effectiveness of threat appeals in advertising communication when bolstering preadolescents’ consumptions of healthy food is considered. Obesity indeed appears as one of the main health issue for this population (8- to 12-year-olds) in our western societies. Although many prevention programs are being developed, very few appear to achieve the behavioral changes expected. Associating research on advertising persuasion among preadolescents and studies in health prevention, our objective was therefore to identify whether eliciting negative affective reactions through exposure to threatening ads (print and audio-visual) could improve the success rate of communication campaigns. Referring to the traditional focus of advertising research on positive affective reaction elicitation, studying the potential persuasiveness of affective states of negative valence represents a first original contribution of this research. Four experiments have been conducted in order to unravel the threats of this issue. First, the potential effectiveness was evaluated using classical indicators of advertising research such as attitude towards the ad, attitudes towards product categories and intentions to consume. Comparisons between different advertising appeals (typical appeals vs. threat appeals) were made, including the absence of treatment (no exposure to healthy food promotion). In addition to the classical measures, effective behavioral changes were evaluated. This represents a second original contribution: few scientific studies appear to seek further than a modification of intentions. Second, the persuasion process (affective, cognitive or both) was investigated, manipulating the level of children’s elaboration when exposed to the advertising stimulus. Last, the effects of repeated exposure were evaluated. The objective was twofold: increase the external validity of our research and extend the understanding of the persuasion process. This original appeal indeed also calls for insights on the potential detrimental effect of numerous viewings. Managerial contributions of this research may indeed only be offered if consequences of national broadcasting campaigns (that suppose multiple exposures) are known. Results of our four experiments provide strong support for the use of threat appeals among this target. Children exposed to threat appeals, eliciting a large repertoire of negative affective reactions, indeed consume significantly more fruit than those exposed to “typical” ads (using positive affective reactions). Furthermore, children viewing “typical” ads did not demonstrate more intentions to consume healthy food than those not exposed to promotional efforts. In other words, this suggests that investing in traditional ways of advertising is as effective as doing nothing. Children in the “low elaboration” condition were the greatest strawberries consumers. These findings sustain the hypothesis of an affective route of persuasion. Further, the strength of the affective reactions experienced appear as a potential explanation to the behavioral changes. Nevertheless, repetition of the advertising stimulus did only increase effectiveness to a certain extent (on the 10-12 age-group). In all instances, it did not decrease it, although the declared levels of negative affective reactions felt dropped, which offers support to the hypothesis of no detrimental impact of threat appeals on children’s wellbeing. We nevertheless felt essential to discuss the ethical dimension of this study. When considering the teleological perspective (focusing on the consequences of acts), our results provide support for a positive evaluation of our work’s ethicality. We however realize that long term consequences of such campaigns go beyond the scope of this research. Further studies are consequently required. We also suggest investigating the comparative effectiveness of various natures of threat (sanitary or physical vs. social). Last, many potential moderators and mediators have been identified but their influences remain unspecified. This opens a large scope of interesting studies. In conclusion, this research provides insights to the effectiveness of an original advertising appeal for the target considered, demonstrating behavioral changes. It also offers an important contribution to the understanding of advertising processes and effectiveness on this specific target. The external validity is then supported by positive results after repeated exposures. Last it proposes various perspectives on the ethical dimensions of the threat appeal use among preadolescents, discussing further the managerial implications of this research.