Phil Taylor's papers
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BACK TO : PROPAGANDA AND THE GWOT Year 3 - 2004 (mainly Iraq)
Study Shows Advertising Can Affect Attitudes About America 
Study Shows Advertising Can Affect Attitudes About America In October 2002, the U.S. Department of State launched a first-ever public diplomacy campaign featuring television spots promoting the happy lives of American Muslims. The "Shared Values Initiative" advertising campaign ran on a limited schedule throughout the Middle East and Asia through January 2003. A study by Professors Alice Kendrick of Southern Methodist University and Jami A. Fullerton of Oklahoma State University assessed reactions among international viewers toward the television commercial components of the campaign. International students from various countries who were enrolled at Regents College in London, England in summer 2003 participated in a persuasion experiment similar to those found in World War II propaganda literature. Results of the study, which will be published in the Journal of Advertising Research this fall, revealed that viewing the Shared Values Initiative commercials produced immediate and significant attitude shifts. Overall attitudes toward the U.S. government as well as whether Muslims were treated fairly in the United States improved significantly after the videos were shown. Given that the State Department's informational goal was to inform and persuade international audiences about the freedom of Muslims to live and practice their faith in the United States, the campaign was successful under the experimental. See also
University Study Shows Advertising Can Improve U.S. Image Abroad; Controversial Campaign By Charlotte Beers Shown Effective in Experiment Monday August 23, 2:00 am ET DALLAS, Aug. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- A new study shows that a U.S.-backed advertising campaign may have been successful in changing certain anti- American sentiments abroad, contrary to the federal government's decision to drop the ads because they were ineffective. Southern Methodist University and Oklahoma State University researchers are publishing the study, "Advertising as Public Diplomacy: Attitude Change Among International Audiences," in the Journal of Advertising Research. ( ). The researchers will be attending a Congressional hearing Monday, Aug. 23, examining public diplomacy in the Middle East. After 9/11, advertising executive Charlotte Beers created the "Shared Values Initiative" campaign for the U.S. State Department. Five television commercials depicted Muslim Americans living happily in the United States. Primarily aimed at women, the TV spots ran in countries with large Muslim populations. Print ads were produced as well.
Dismayed that the first American television advertising campaign to the Muslim world came and went without much study, Alice Kendrick, professor at SMU's Temerlin Advertising Institute, and Jami A. Fullerton, OSU associate professor of advertising, decided to test the effectiveness of the ads. The study exposed 105 international students from 25 countries to the original TV spots. After viewing the commercials, overall positive attitudes toward the U.S. government and whether Muslims were treated fairly in the United States improved significantly. "Advertising can be an effective tool in public diplomacy and should not be discounted as a strategy," said Kendrick. The study found that: -- almost half of the study participants played back the intended message from the commercials; -- women recorded the strongest feelings of whether the videos were an effective tool for the U.S. -- The primary criticism of the commercials was their one-sidedness, which for many affected the credibility of the message. Two methodologies were used: -- The first borrowed elements from classic wartime propaganda experiments. -- The second was an advertising copy test used to evaluate the effectiveness of TV commercials. -- International students at Regents College in London participated in the study in July 2003. Source: Southern Methodist University; Oklahoma State University |