Assessing the Comparative Efficacy of Humorous and Fear-Based Public Health Messages

Theoretical Background and research questions/hypothesis: Fear has been shown effective for generating healthier behaviors in mediated message viewers; however, recently, message developers have suggested that we move beyond the traditional fear approach and more frequently adopt messages that include humor. While there has been substantial study of the separate persuasive abilities of fear and humor, little has been accomplished in the way of comparing the efficacy of these tactics.

This research juxtaposed humor and fear appeals to assess particpants’ responses to health messages. The objectives of this project were: (1)to gain a greater understanding of the interaction of constructs of the Extended Parallel Processing Model (self-efficacy, message discounting as a means of fear control) and the Elaboration Likelihood Model(depth of processing) and intention towards a behavior following exposure to humorous and fear-based messages, and (2) to evaluate humor's ability generate intention to perform health behaviors in comparison to fear.

Methods: Following an assessment of participants' past and current health practices, participants were exposed to four health messages (tobacco use, drinking and driving, drug use, and food safety)and viewed two messages that incorporated humor appeals and two messages that included fear appeals; apart from fear-based or humorous statements, the content of the messages were identical. Participants were subsequently asked to respond to a series of measures assessing their feelings of self-efficacy, depth of processing, and message discounting, as well as their ultimate intention to engage in the message’s recommendations. Additionally, questions of persuasion were revisited following a time delay in order to account for any change in intention due to the sleeper effect.

Results: Among those who reported engaging in the messages' negative health behaviors, humorous message exposure was positively correlated with self-efficacy and negatively correlated with message discounting. Additionally, viewers of humorous messages reported greater intention to practice healthy behaviors than fear-based messages viewers, immediately and following a time delay. 

Conclusions: Results suggest that persuasion towards health messages' recommendations may result from an individual’s perceived ability to overcome a health threat, internalize a message’s arguments, and positively evaluate the quality of the message, rather than the inherent traits of a message’s valence. Thus, humorous messages may appear to be more effective at generating intentions to perform healthy behaviors due to their ability to encourage self-efficacy and depth of processing while discouraging message discounting.

Implications for research and/or practice: This study informs the development of future health messages by suggesting that humor may be an effective way attract attention and simultaneously provide an avenue for improved persuasion towards health behaviors.  Public service announcements, consumer messages, and education programs have the potential to benefit from humor’s ability to encourage self-efficacy and generate intention towards the performance of health behaviors. Particularly, when health issues are relevant to an individual’s well-being, humor has shown to be an educational tool that inspires less defensive processing than fear. The present study suggests that such benefits  surpass those of fear-based messages when directly compared and persist over time.