Faculty Publications

"Wow, That Was Funny": The Value Of Exposure And Humor In Fostering Campaign Message Sharing

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Evaluation, Message development, Sexual health, Young adults

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Social Marketing Quarterly

Volume

19

Issue

2

First Page

84

Last Page

96

Abstract

In this study, we examined whether or not exposure to a humorous surround campaign in Iowa (United States) could produce a multiplicative effect based on Intermedia Theory. Until You're Ready, AvoidtheStork.com© was designed to prevent unintended pregnancies among young women. In the case of unintended pregnancy, interpersonal sharing is important because women's contraceptive decisions are influenced by what others, including their friends, think about the health issue. In a sample of college students (n = 594), cross-sectional survey results indicated that campaign exposure and humor were significant predictors of talking with and/or showing the campaign to others. Based on our results, we suggest that campaign practitioners should consider humor-based campaigns as a way to generate not only exposure-based effects but also conversation-based effects. Specifically, humor based campaigns can increase the reach of a campaign through sharing. © The Author(s) 2013.

Department

Department of Psychology

Original Publication Date

6-1-2013

DOI of published version

10.1177/1524500413483456

Link to Full Text

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