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Public service advertising (PSA) is a familiar communication approach, and fear appeal is frequently used in PSAs to promote biodiversity conservation in China. Target framing can influence people's decision‐making, but it is unclear how efficient the PSAs are when using fear appeals with different threat‐target framing. We conducted a field experiment among Chinese college students (n = 236) using two PSAs with different threat‐target framing. We randomly assigned participants to the two PSAs by pre‐screening via audience segmentation after the pre‐test, and the participants completed the post‐questionnaire and a modified dictator game after watching the corresponding PSA. Our evidence suggested that people better understood the importance and relevance of wildlife protection after watching the human‐oriented PSA. Although only the human‐oriented PSA could significantly improve people's behavioral intention, there was no difference in the efficiency of the two PSAs in increasing people's conservation intention. Hence, it is inadequate to affect the audiences by arousing more fear, but rather PSAs would need to provide possible courses of action for them. While the wildlife‐oriented PSA generated more donations than the human‐oriented one, donations may not be the best indicator in our study. Our findings can help design more effective wildlife conservation campaigns. We show that it is inadequate to affect the audiences by arousing more fear, but rather PSAs would likely need to outline possible courses of action for them. Our research could help to provide insights into designing more targeted and persuasive campaign materials for wildlife conservation.

Purpose This paper aims to examine how consumers respond to social media influencers that are created through artificial intelligence (AI) and compares effects to traditional (human) influencers. Design/methodology/approach Across two empirical studies, the authors examine the efficacy of AI social media influencers. With Study 1, the authors establish baseline effects for AI influencers and investigate how social-psychological distance impacts consumer perceptions. The authors also investigate the role of an influencer’s agency – being autonomous or externally managed – to test the boundaries of the results and determine the interactive effects between influencer type and influencer agency. Study 2 acts as an extension and validation of Study 1, whereby the authors provide generalisability and overlay the role of need for uniqueness as a moderated mediator. Findings The authors show that there are similarities and differences in the ways in which consumers view AI and human influencers. Importantly, the authors find no difference in terms of intention to follow or personalisation. This suggests that consumers are equally open to follow an AI or human influencer, and they perceive the level of personalisation provided by either influencer type as similar. Furthermore, while an AI influencer is generally perceived as having lower source trust, they are more likely to evoke word-of-mouth intentions. In understanding these effects, the authors show that social distance mediates the relationship between influencer type and the outcomes the authors investigate. Results also show that AI influencers can have a greater effect on consumers who have a high need for uniqueness. Finally, the authors find that a lack of influencer agency has a detrimental effect. Research limitations/implications The studies investigate consumers’ general response to AI influencers within the context of Instagram, however, future research might examine consumers’ response to posts promoting specific products across a variety of category contexts and within different social media platforms. Practical implications The authors find that in some ways, an AI influencer can be as effective as a human influencer. Indeed, the authors suggest that there may be a spill-over effect from consumer experiences with other AI recommendation systems, meaning that consumers are open to AI influencer recommendations. However, the authors find consistent evidence that AI influencers are trusted less than traditional influencers, hence the authors caution brands from rushing to replace human influencers with their AI counterparts. Originality/value This paper offers novel insight into the increasingly prominent phenomenon of the AI influencer. Specifically, it takes initial steps towards developing understanding as to how consumers respond to AI influencers and contrast these effects with human influencers.

Issue Addressed: Public service announcements (PSA) targeting physical activity are not always effective at enacting behaviour change. One factor that may impact message effectiveness is whether the message matches its intent (ie, what norm is being portrayed and received). The current study explored the effects of two PSAs on parents' perceptions of outdoor play. Methods: Parents (N = 333) completed a pre/postexperimental online survey to examine the acute impact of a PSA on their perception of how often children play outdoors (ie, descriptive norms). Participants provided their descriptive norm perceptions and then were randomised to view one of two PSAs: (a) the Mr. Lonely PSA, which portrayed outdoor activity as not normative, and (b) a control message, which portrayed outdoor activity as the norm (VERB PSA). After viewing their PSA, descriptive norm perceptions were reported again. Results: A two-way mixed ANOVA indicated that participants who viewed the Mr. Lonely PSA (where outdoor play was not normative) perceived that children and youth played outdoors less frequently immediately after watching the PSA compared to before viewing it (P < 0.05). No significant change occurred in the control condition. Conclusions: PSAs can alter individuals' perceptions of whether they perceive outdoor play as normative among children and youth. So what?: As individuals align their behaviour with what is typical, PSA developers should be wary of what message is being conveyed. In terms of activity, portraying that outdoor play is not normative may not have the intended outcome.

To measure the effects of advertising, marketers must know how consumers would behave had they not seen the ads. The authors develop a methodology they call \"ghost ads,\" which facilitates this comparison by identifying the control group counterparts of the exposed consumers in a randomized experiment. The authors show that, relative to public service announcement and intent-totreat A/B tests, ghost ads can reduce the cost of experimentation, improve measurement precision, deliver the relevant strategic baseline, and work with modern ad platforms that optimize ad delivery in real time. The authors also describe a variant, \"predicted ghost ad\" methodology, which is compatible with online display advertising platforms; their implementation records more than 100 million predicted ghost ads per day. The authors demonstrate the methodology with an online retailer's display retargeting campaign. They show novel evidence that retargeting can work: the ads lifted website visits by 17.2% and purchases by 10.5%. Compared with intent-to-treat and public service announcement experiments, advertisers can measure ad lift just as precisely while spending at least an order of magnitude less.

This article investigates the influence of perceived source credibility on the effectiveness of health-related public service announcements (PSAs) and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communications. Findings indicate that online commenters who are perceived to be credible are instrumental in influencing consumers' responses to pro- versus antivaccination online PSAs. Results further suggest it is not the advertising message (i.e., the PSA-advocated position) alone that influences consumers' responses (even when consumers perceive the PSA sponsor to be highly credible) but rather the commenters' reactions to the claims presented in the PSA that also independently contribute to consumers' vaccination attitudes and behavioral intentions. Finally, results also show that when the relevant expertise of online commenters is identified, the effectiveness of the PSA's advertising message is moderated by the interactive effect of the online comments and their associated perceived credibility.

Patients with cancer, particularly those who are immunocompromised represent a vulnerable population post-flooding due to their reduced ability to fight infections. Additionally, those with cancer often have multiple scheduled appointments with healthcare providers. Following a flood, these appointments may be disrupted due to loss of transportation, impassable roadways, temporary relocation, and alternative housing. Research has found an association between treatment interruptions due to natural disasters and increased mortality. Following the historic July 2022 flooding in southeastern Kentucky, a resource gap was identified as tailored post-flood health and safety information for patients with cancer were scarce. The research team developed tailored post-flood patient education tip sheet covering nine topic areas including the importance of contacting their HCP, when to seek emergency care, considerations while staying in a shelter, checking medications, food and water, staying away from mold, recommendations for cleaning and sanitizing surfaces that came in contact with flood water, and ways to protect against infection. Two corresponding public service announcements (PSAs) that can be used on social media were developed. The purpose of this study was to examine the usability, usefulness and perceived impact of a patient education tip sheet and PSAs tailored to mee the specific post flood related concerns for those with cancer. This was an exploratory, descriptive pilot study which sought to recruit healthcare providers and those considered climate and health experts to evaluate the usability and usefulness of the tailored patient education tip sheet and public service announcements using a 4-point Likert scale. Participants (N = 5) found the tip sheet and PSAs to be both useful and usable. In addition, the Avoiding Infection PSA has been viewed on YouTube 80 times and the When to get help after a flood if you have a weak immune system has been viewed 54 times over the past 10 months. Suggested revisions (e.g., more information on mental health impacts; combine PSAs into one) were given and will be incorporated into the tip sheet and PSAs for future use. This study sought to fill a resource gap and assist healthcare providers in educating patients on considerations following a flood. Having resources like this tip sheet and PSAs readily available for use before and after a flood, may help to prevent infection and reduce treatment delays in our patient population.

Purpose Dynamic advertising, including television and online video ads, demands new theory and tools developed to understand attention to moving stimuli. The purpose of this study is to empirically test the predictions of a new dynamic attention theory, Dynamic Human-Centred Communication Systems Theory, versus the predictions of salience theory. Design/methodology/approach An eye-tracking study used a sample of consumers to measure visual attention to potential areas of interest (AOIs) in a random selection of unfamiliar video ads. An eye-tracking software feature called intelligent bounding boxes (IBBs) was used to track attention to moving AOIs. AOIs were coded for the presence of static salience variables (size, brightness, colour and clutter) and dynamic attention theory dimensions (imminence, motivational relevance, task relevance and stability). Findings Static salience variables contributed 90% of explained variance in fixation and 57% in fixation duration. However, the data further supported the three-way interaction uniquely predicted by dynamic attention theory: between imminence (central vs peripheral), relevance (motivational or task relevant vs not) and stability (fleeting vs stable). The findings of this study indicate that viewers treat dynamic stimuli like real life, paying less attention to central, relevant and stable AOIs, which are available across time and space in the environment and so do not need to be memorised. Research limitations/implications Despite the limitations of small samples of consumers and video ads, the results of this study demonstrate the potential of two relatively recent innovations, which have received limited emphasis in the marketing literature: dynamic attention theory and IBBs. Practical implications This study documents what does and does not attract attention to video advertising. What gets attention according to salience theory (e.g. central location) may not always get attention in dynamic advertising because of the effects of relevance and stability. To better understand how to execute video advertising to direct and retain attention to important AOIs, advertisers and advertising researchers are encouraged to use IBBs. Originality/value This study makes two original contributions: to marketing theory, by showing how dynamic attention theory can predict attention to video advertising better than salience theory, and to marketing research, showing the utility of tracking visual attention to moving objects in video advertising with IBBs, which appear underutilised in advertising research.

With the widespread application of monitoring technology and network storage technology, there are some privacy issues in the process of public service advertising visual design and the process of pushing public service advertising visual design works. Researching the privacy protection method of public service advertising visual design is of great significance to protecting the privacy data security of public service advertising visual designers and the personal privacy of other citizens. This paper proposes a digital watermark privacy protection method and a public service advertising visual design work push privacy protection method, and conducts a privacy protection experiment study on public service advertising visual design. The digital watermark privacy protection method and the public service advertising work push privacy protection method are used to provide an innovative solution for public service advertising privacy protection. The study shows that the evaluation score of the digital watermark privacy protection method is 11.05% higher than that of the traditional passive privacy protection method; the average feasibility evaluation score and the average effectiveness evaluation score of the privacy protection method for the public service advertising visual design work push by experts are 86.8 and 90.66 respectively. Combining the perspectives of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, this paper proposes a digital watermark privacy protection method, emphasizing practicality, and providing new ideas for privacy protection of public service advertising visual design.

ObjectiveIn April 2018, JUUL Labs announced a $30 million investment in efforts to combat underage use of its products through ‘independent research, youth and parent education and community engagement’. Prior evidence demonstrates that tobacco industry-funded prevention programmes are ineffective and may work against tobacco control efforts; they do not discourage novices and youth from tobacco use but often improve the tobacco industry’s public image. We describe the nature, timing of and expenditures related to the JUUL underage use prevention advertisements across media channels.MethodsExpenditures for newspaper, magazine, television, and radio marketing and promotional efforts were collected through Kantar Media’s ‘Stradegy’ dashboard, an online platform which provides counts of advertisement occurrences and expenditures on various media channels. JUUL public relations and corporate social responsibility ads were identified in the Kantar Database. All ad expenditures were extracted and aggregated by date. Analysis of the expenditure data was triangulated with newspaper and industry advertisement archives.ResultsAdvertisements aired nationally and in over half of all US-designated market areas (n=130) across media platforms including newspapers, magazines, radio, and online in mobile web and internet displays. In 2018, JUUL Labs spent $30 million, predominantly for print advertising. The ‘What Parents Need to Know about JUUL’ ads primarily advertised JUUL’s smoking reduction ‘mission’ and promoted the product. By 2019, advertising increased to $36.2 million. JUUL’s message strategy transitioned to ‘Cracking Down on Underage Sales in Retail Stores’ and featured adult smoker testimonies, linking JUUL to smoking cessation.DiscussionMarketing expenditures promoting JUUL’s corporate social responsibility mission exceeded their $30 million investment in the underage use prevention efforts. The expenditures were focused on the media market areas where health organisation and legislative officials were launching investigations into JUUL social media and other promotional strategies.