Quality of Life as an Outcome Disclosure of Positive Appeals in Social Advertisements: The Case of HIV/Aids Prevention Campaigns

Abstract

This chapter illustrates examples of how social advertising campaigns for HIV/AIDS prevention express quality of life as an outcome of behavioural change. The authors take the perspective of the gain-frame appeals in the message to promote quality of life and present examples of positive appealed social advertisements that show how positive appeals are expressed in the narrative and the claims of social ads. The cases analysed were extracted from a database of 375 social advertisements aimed at preventing HIV/AIDS from Germany, France, Italy and Portugal that were broadcast in the first 30 years of the epidemic—from 1981 to 2011. The chapter discusses how quality of life is promoted in these cases of health-related social marketing through the language used. Particularly, the examples express positive appeals according to the theory of social norms. This understanding may help social marketers to take decisions in the future with the knowledge of previous examples of positive appeals in social marketing messages to promote quality of life.

Teaching Notes

The case was developed to be discussed in a social marketing course with the main purpose of describing the following topics:

• 1. Social marketing narrative;

• 2. Social norms’ theory;

• 3. Positive appeals in social marketing as an element of quality of life.

Students are asked to look at the examples shown to discuss how positive appeals express quality of life and how the narrative implies the theory of social norms. Further, a discussion in class is promoted on cultural differences in the use of positive appeals in social marketing to express quality of life.

Question 1—Identify in Table 4.1 the claims representing the theory of social norms.

Students are called to discuss each claim in Table 4.1 and explain how it promotes an ordinary and expected behaviour considered as a social norm and not an exception only directed to vulnerable populations.

Question 2— How do you think the claims express quality of life with incentives for behaviour change?

Expressing the desired behaviours as a social norm and promoting them with words associated to happiness, love, solidarity, friendship and protection, quality of life is highly expressed with positive social marketing appeals.

Question 3— Do you think that social marketing using with positive appeals to express quality of life are the most or the least prevalent direction used in your country?

Students are called on to look at the country differences expressed in Table 4.1 and discuss the strategies of social marketing in their own country and whether positive or negative appeals are highly used. Further, students may discuss the consequences of the prevalence of positive and negative appeals in their country in terms of the perception of the outcome of quality of life connected to behaviour change.

Question 4— Do you think that there are differences in the expression of quality of life through social marketing appeals according to the social marketing topic?

This case expresses the use of positive appeals to promote quality of life in HIV prevention social marketing campaigns. Students may discuss other topics in which this technique could also be adequate and other social marketing topics that might be more effective with fear and threat appeals.