Advertising appeals effectiveness: a systematic literature review.

Positive, negative and coactive appeals are used in advertising. The evidence base indicates mixed results making practitioner guidance on optimal advertising appeals difficult. This study aims to identify the most effective advertising appeals and it seeks to synthesize relevant literature up to August 2019. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses framework a total of 31 studies were identified and analyzed. Emotional appeals, theory utilization, materials, results and quality were examined. Across multiple contexts, results from this review found that positive appeals were more often effective than coactive and negative appeals. Most studies examined fear and humour appeals, reflecting a literature skew towards the two emotional appeals. The Effective Public Health Practice Project framework was applied to assess the quality of the studies and identified that there remains opportunity for improvement in research design of advertising studies. Only one-third of studies utilized theory, signalling the need for more theory testing and application in future research. Scholars should look at increasing methodological strength by drawing more representative samples, establishing strong study designs and valid data collection methods. In the meantime, advertisers are encouraged to employ and test more positive and coactive advertising appeals.

The effectiveness of digital sexual health interventions for young adults: a systematic literature review (2010-2020).

There has been a proliferation of digital sexual health interventions targeting adolescents; however, limited evaluative reviews have compared the effectiveness of multiple digital tools for sexual health literacy and behaviour change. This study conducted a systematic literature review, screened 9881 records and analysed 61 studies. Findings suggest that websites and mobile phones dominate digital sexual health interventions, with a majority effectively delivering cognitive (e.g. awareness and attitudes about sexual and reproductive health) and behavioural outcomes (e.g. abstinence and use of contraception). The most popular sexual health promotion mechanisms were interactive websites, text messaging and phone calls, and online education programmes, followed by mobile applications-fewer studies in this review utilized social media, games and multimedia. Previous reviews focused on single outcome measures (e.g. sexually transmitted infection testing) to assess interventions' effectiveness. The current review moves beyond single outcome measures to cover a wider range of behavioural and non-behavioural sexual health issues and contexts covered in the literature. Four main categories were analysed as outcomes: cognitive perceptions, promoting sexual health-related behaviours, promoting sexual health-related products and services, and impact (viral load). Seventy-nine per cent of interventions focused on preventive sexual health behaviours and products (e.g. condoms) and services (e.g. HIV testing). Overall, 75% of studies effectively changed sexual health behaviour and cognitive perceptions. However, the digital-only tools did not vary from the blended formats, in influence outcomes, even after categorizing them into behavioural or non-behavioural outcomes. Compared to previous systematic reviews, more studies from the last decade used rigorous research design in the form of randomized controlled trials, non-randomized control trials, and quasi-experiments and lasted longer.

Sexual health literacy among adolescents is essential to avert unwanted pregnancies or abortions and sexually transmitted diseases. Culturally sensitive and age-appropriate interventions are required to educate youth about safe-sex practices and increase their self-efficacy and accessibility to health products and services. Meta-analytical and systematic literature reviews have identified limitations in traditional interventions that rely heavily on classroom-based activities and lectures to educate adolescents about safe sex. In recent years, digital tools have proved productive; however, limited evaluative reviews have compared the effectiveness of multiple digital technologies (such as smartphones, web-based programs, social media, games and multimedia) used within sexual health interventions. This systematic review assessed 9881 articles and synthesized 61 experimental studies on adolescent sexual behaviour conducted in the last decade to identify tools that positively influence cognitive and safe-sex behaviour among youth. Interactive websites, mobile technology and online education programmes were popular promotional tools, but very few studies utilized multimedia alongside games and social media. Findings from this review could facilitate future research and practice in adolescent sexual health.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Sentiment and Topic Analysis of COVID-19 Vaccination on Twitter and Vaccine Uptake.

BACKGROUND: The lack of trust in vaccines is a major contributor to vaccine hesitancy. To overcome vaccine hesitancy for the COVID-19 vaccine, the Australian government launched multiple public health campaigns to encourage vaccine uptake. This sentiment analysis examines the effect of public health campaigns and COVID-19-related events on sentiment and vaccine uptake. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to examine the relationship between sentiment and COVID-19 vaccine uptake and government actions that impacted public sentiment about the vaccine. METHODS: Using machine learning methods, we collected 137,523 publicly available English language tweets published in Australia between February and October 2021 that contained COVID-19 vaccine-related keywords. Machine learning methods were used to extract topics and sentiments relating to COVID-19 vaccination. The relationship between public vaccination sentiment on Twitter and vaccine uptake was examined. RESULTS: The majority of collected tweets expressed negative (n=91,052, 66%) rather than positive (n=21,686, 16%) or neutral (n=24,785, 18%) sentiments. Topics discussed within the study time frame included the role of the government in the vaccination rollout, availability and accessibility of the vaccine, and vaccine efficacy. There was a significant positive correlation between negative sentiment and the number of vaccine doses administered daily (r267=.15, P<.05), with positive sentiment showing the inverse effect. Public health campaigns, lockdowns, and antivaccination protests were associated with increased negative sentiment, while vaccination mandates had no significant effect on sentiment. CONCLUSIONS: The study findings demonstrate that negative sentiment was more prevalent on Twitter during the Australian vaccination rollout but vaccine uptake remained high. Australians expressed anger at the slow rollout and limited availability of the vaccine during the study period. Public health campaigns, lockdowns, and antivaccination rallies increased negative sentiment. In contrast, news of increased vaccine availability for the public and government acquisition of more doses were key government actions that reduced negative sentiment. These findings can be used to inform government communication planning.

Social Advertising Effectiveness in Driving Action: A Study of Positive, Negative and Coactive Appeals on Social Media.

BACKGROUND: Social media offers a cost-effective and wide-reaching advertising platform for marketers. Objectively testing the effectiveness of social media advertising remains difficult due to a lack of guiding frameworks and applicable behavioral measures. This study examines advertising appeals' effectiveness in driving engagement and actions on and beyond social media platforms. METHOD: In an experiment, positive, negative and coactive ads were shared on social media and promoted for a week. The three ads were controlled in an A/B testing experiment to ensure applicable comparison. Measures used included impressions, likes, shares and clicks following the multi-actor social media engagement framework. Data were extracted using Facebook ads manager and website data. Significance was tested through a series of chi-square tests. RESULTS: The promoted ads reached over 21,000 users. Significant effect was found for appeal type on engagement and behavioral actions. The findings support the use of negative advertising appeals over positive and coactive appeals. CONCLUSION: Practically, in the charity and environment context, advertisers aiming to drive engagement on social media as well as behavioral actions beyond social media should consider negative advertising appeals. Theoretically, this study demonstrates the value of using the multi-actor social media engagement framework to test advertising appeal effectiveness. Further, this study proposes an extension to evaluate behavioral outcomes.