A Classroom-Administered Simulation of a Television Campaign on Adolescent Smoking: Testing an Activation Model of Information Exposure

Published in the Journal of Health Communication (Vol. 12, pages 399-415), this article reports research from a study of a particular communication strategy for addressing the problem of adolescent tobacco use: the use of media interventions that include high sensation-related elements to attract, hold the attention of, and persuade higher risk takers to avoid or delay the unhealthy behaviour.

This article examines the premise that the research on televised anti-drug public service announcement (PSA) campaigns based on the sensory, affective, and arousal needs of high sensation-seeking (HSS) adolescents can be applied to youth tobacco prevention to produce media messages that achieve significant changes in tobacco-related attitudes, intentions, and behaviours. The high sensation-related components of the media being studied are described as evoking sensory, affective, and arousal responses among HSS by combining strong sound and visual effects, including suspenseful or intense music, multiple cuts and edits, unusual lighting and camera angles, zooms, and close-ups. In essence, these components are designed to make the media more "intense" and "exciting."

The article begins with a description of the theoretical underpinnings of the research, which include an Activation Model of Information Exposure (AMIE) and a Sensation-seeking Targeting Approach (SENTAR). AMIE and SENTAR are not theories of persuasion; they are designed to aid in attracting and holding the attention of HSS so that a persuasive message can successfully be delivered.

As detailed here, the participants in the study were 1,272 middle school students aged 12-14 from Colorado (United States) who were stratified by their level of sensation seeking and then exposed to both high and low sensation value anti-tobacco public service announcements (PSAs) at 3 time points. A total of 18 anti-tobacco PSAs were selected for inclusion in the study. Exposure to an intervention session consisted of viewing a single half-hour episode of the television comedy Friends (wherein all references to tobacco use were edited out to avoid experimental message contamination), with 3 artificial commercial breaks inserted at equal intervals during the episode. Within each artificial commercial break participants viewed 2 PSAs - one with anti-tobacco and the other with anti-drug prevention messages. Over the course of the study, participants completed 3 total intervention sessions, viewing 18 total PSAs (9 anti-tobacco, 9 anti-drug).

Hypothesised effects of the intervention on the primary dependent measures - attitudes (against smoking) and behavioural intentions not to smoke - were strongly supported for HSS. Further support is offered from the secondary indicators, which were: self-efficacy, perceived message effectiveness, and perceived risk from smoking. No differences were demonstrated, however, in message effects between those selected by focus groups to be high in sensation value and those selected to be low in sensation value. The researchers conclude that, "Although these results cannot be considered as supportive of an approach previously demonstrated to be effective in drug abuse prevention, reduction of alcohol abuse and risky sex, and delaying the start of sexual intercourse in adolescents, they perhaps can point the way for future studies employing a similar approach, but including development of their own high sensation value messages to attract, hold the attention of, and persuade both high and low risk takers to avoid smoking."