Social Marketing: Who Really Gets the Message?

Abstract

Advertising of social issues has become a major component of social marketing campaigns. However, little assessment of social advertising believability has been undertaken. This is further compounded by a lack of attention to the antecedents and consequences of how believable the target audience for social advertising see the advertised messages. This study focused on examining social advertising by gathering data on two social issues being advertised. Data were gathered from a sample of 156 young people. The results indicate that involvement and believability influenced attitudes toward the social issue for non-binge drinkers, but only involvement influenced attitudes for binge drinkers. Also, attitudes influenced intention to comply with the social issue.