Behaviour Change

PROPAGANDA FOR CHANGE is a project created by the students of Behaviour Change (ps359) and Professor Thomas Hills @thomhills at the Psychology Department of the University of Warwick. This work was supported by funding from Warwick's Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning.

Friday, March 4, 2016

Keep Calm And Eat Goat Meat!



Dieting can be a difficult task for the average carnivorous human, with the latest and popular dieting trends being vegetarian & vegan. This ad intends to convince the layperson they don't have to subscribe to the latter diets to get the desired healthy diet and body they want.

It does so by first asking a Rhetorical Question. rhetorical questions are effective in getting audiences to think about the message without having to answer the question posited. Rhetorical questions have been shown to positively influence audiences in favor of a message  especially when the message is of high personal relevance and has weak arguments  ( Cacioppo & Petty, 1981), which is what makes this add more effective. Diet has been and still is a hot topic in the western world and the ad isn't overloaded with research evidence, nor does it cite a variety of different sources. 

It does however offer a Favorable Comparison Setpoint. This technique demonstrates how Goat meat- our preferred choice - is better than the current meats our target might be consuming by displaying a table listing the nutritional benefits of goat meats in comparison to other meats. Providing factual information helps to further encourage the target audience by making the advantages of goat meat more salient than other meats. 

The ad also employs the Physically Attractive-Admirer Altercast to get the target thinking about their desired body goals. Using this technique has been shown to influence behaviour and persuade audiences (Chaiken, 1979). As attractive people are usually viewed in a more positive light and are likely to be associated with higher status, audiences are more inclined to follow their footsteps so as to receive the same type of positive associations. Using this technique alongside Images of meals which can prepared with Goat meat also means that Goat meat can be positively associated with having a great physique i.e. eating goat meat leads to a great body - which is placebic considering there's no causal link between the two and other factors need to be accounted for to get a great body.

References.
1. Nutritive Value of Goat Meat. http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/U/UNP-0061/UNP-0061.pdf

2. Is Goat Meat Healthy? http://www.livestrong.com/article/367559-is-goat-meat-healthy/

3. Grande Premium Meats. http://www.elkusa.com/Goat_meat_nutrition.html

4. Fresh Goat Meat Finding Favor of Upscale Menus. http://www.sfgate.com/food/article/Fresh-goat-meat-finding-favor-on-upscale-menus-3275148.php.

5. Vermont Chevon. http://vermontchevon.com/why-chevon/nutritional-benefits/

6. United States Department of Agriculture: https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/5268?fgcd=&manu=&lfacet=&format=Abridged&count=&max=35&offset=&sort=&qlookup=goat

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