The Health Communication Campaign Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

The Health Communication Campaign - Essay Example A health communication campaign is believed influential if it employs the psychology of persuasion through advertising, which is more elaborate and expensive.   This clashes with the more popular view that package warning labels incorporating all the necessary information and warning will serve the purpose, at less cost and effort.   Remember that the bottom line in every risk communication program is to change consumers’ attitudes and behavior, a complex task that calls for designing methods that would yield optimal results (Stewart & Martin, 1994).  Ã‚   The warning label strategy was primarily used in the anti-smoking campaigns in public places in some American states and in a nationwide alert against alcohol consumption during pregnancy.  Ã‚   Both communication programs failed to realize measurable results (Pechmann & Reibling, 2000; Hainkin, et al., 1998).  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A cursory observation of consumer behavior shows that few if any read product labels for their risk content.   For most consumers, product labels, as in the case of food products, are generally a source of information for their nutritional elements.  Ã‚   It follows that a health warning squeezed into the product label is less likely to be noticed.   On the other hand, a health warning disseminated through the regular modes of advertising offers greater chances of breaking into the consciousness of consumers.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Advertising today is planned with increasing attention on the psychology of marketing, factoring in such considerations as age, personality, message relevance, consumer trends, social and group pressures.  Ã‚   Advertisers also target specific markets for better positioning of the product or idea that is being promoted.  Ã‚   Without market segmentation, targeting and positioning, advertising is conceded as a haphazard affair, unlikely to achieve its object ives. This supports the contention that communicating consumer risks through advertising has better possibilities of success than doing it through package warning labels.  Ã‚