How do females respond to different persuasive techniques (e.g. informational, authoritative, emotional)?
Our data clearly show that emotional appeals were the most persuasive technique for young women. Using children in PSAs was especially effective. Although mothers particularly were affected, most of the other women also were touched by messages with children in them. The authoritative PSAs appealed to very few participants and were received negatively by several of them, especially the younger women. Authoritative approaches are not recommended for this population. Assessing informational techniques is less clear cut. The focus group discussions indicated that informational PSAs were appreciated if the information was new without being “preachy.” The PSAs judged most effective by the participants tended to have higher ratings for “useful information.” However, the PSAs rated as the most informative were not ranked highly for effectiveness when compared to the others. Notably, the ratings for the two questions on the value of information contained in the specific PSAs often were contrad
