theoretical models for public relations campaigns james k. vanleuven colorado state university 1...

Theoretical Models for Public Relations Campaigns

James K. VanLeuven Colorado State University

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Upadhyay,Academician,UDCJ

Public relations campaigns Public relations campaigns are a blueprint

for achieving desired business and communications objectives. The first critical step in campaign creation is pinpointing what the agency/organization hopes to achieve as an end result. Does the business wish to generate awareness of a new program or product? Position itself as an industry expert and resource? Change attitudes and opinions? -Lovell Public Relations

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Communication and social science theories serve as frameworks guiding public relations campaign decisions

Each of the five theories suggests a different sequence or hierarchy of effects leading to a campaign's focal objective

Thus, the theoretical models outlined here may be utilized to help set campaign objectives and to determine strategy including message design and channel use

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PERSUASION/LEARNING EFFECTS

The first two models are grounded in social psychology's learning effects tradition. Typically, public relations planners follow the persuasion model derived from instrumental learning and holding that knowledge, attitude, and behavior change take place in a more-or-less stepwise manner.

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The central notion behind instrumental learning is that an opinion or attitude becomes habitual because its overt expressions or internal rehearsal is followed by the experience or anticipation of positive reinforcement.

This process, as developed in Hovland's Yale Communication Program, progresses in four stages from awareness to comprehension, to acceptance, and finally, retention ( Hovland, Janis, & Kelly 1953).

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McGuire approach ( 1981) to persuasion and campaign planning follows a similar orientation.

Implications For Campaign Objectives Implicit in the persuasion/learning effects

model and many public relations campaigns is the assumption that the likelihood of attaining an array of campaign objectives tapers off quickly following awareness. Perhaps 70 percent of the audience will achieve awareness, but progressively fewer will gain specific knowledge, change opinions, etc.

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Generate awareness and interest Implications for Campaign Strategies Strategies geared to the

persuasion/learning effects model focus on conditions for optimizing impacts in the early stages of a change process. Strategy and programming decisions emphasize techniques for creating awareness and enhancing knowledge gain.

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SOCIAL LEARNING MODEL The social learning model offers a

more complex and variegated approach pegged to sustained behavioral change based on careful synchronization of media publicity and interpersonal support programs. It is geared more to education and training than to persuasion

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Certain Behaviour attitude change The theory, holds that there is a continuous,

reciprocal interaction among a person's behavior, events going on inside the person (thoughts, emotional reactions, expectations), and the environmental consequences of that behavior. The likelihood that a specific behavior will occur is determined by the consequences the person expects will follow the performance of that behavior. The more positive and rewarding the consequences, the more likely the behavior is to occur ( McAlister, 1981)

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Implications for Campaign Objectives Campaign planners guided by social learning

theory generally set separate objectives for each target audience. Those objectives include everything from awareness through sustained behavioral change, although the emphasis given each objective is calibrated to the ease with which particular groups or target audience members may attain each objective.

Implications for Campaign Strategies The complexities of social learning theory

require separate overall strategies and often completely distinct message designs and channel uses for each target audience.

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LOW-INVOLVEMENT MODEL The low-involvement model developed

from the advertising and marketing literature and is well suited to short-term promotions and awareness campaigns. It holds that the media may induce action-taking without necessarily affecting parallel cognitive and attitudinal change. This happens because relatively inconsequential behaviors are not dependent on great amounts of knowledge or reconciliation with existing attitudes

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Flay ( 1986) wrote that the low-involvement model is most likely to be successful when there is little objective difference between the alternative or when the audience does not care about the magnitude of difference between alternatives. E.g. “If you drink, don't drive--if you drive, don't drink”

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Not too much thinking required Clearly, the low-involvement

sequence of effects fits situations not requiring audience members to stop and think about the issue. The sequence of effects presumed by the model moves from simple awareness to behavioral change, and then, perhaps, to attitudinal change.

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Implications for Campaign Objectives The low-involvement model moves from

awareness to behavior change by minimizing the number of steps in between. However, it is often necessary to have at least one intermediate objective (e.g., knowledge gain) in order to provide reason or justification for immediate action

Implications for Campaign Strategies By relying on awareness to induce

behavior, the low-involvement strategy almost always means a short, but memorable, message repeated very often through mass media channels

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COGNITIVE CONSISTENCY MODEL The cognitive consistency model is a

particularly useful framework when dealing with tension reduction situations including crisis communication, certain issue management problems, negotiations and other conditions where imposed behaviors and decisions demand new knowledge and attitude change before they can be generally accepted. It is also a useful planning framework in situations where new knowledge counters existing beliefs and attitudes

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Cognitive strategies for reconciling inconsistencies include: (a) revoking or attempting to revoke the decision or behavior, (b) lowering the importance of the decision, (c) increasing the ambiguity or cognitive overlap between the discrepant ideas, and (d) adding supportive beliefs to change the ratio of dissonant to consonant elements.

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Implications for Campaign Objectives Focal objectives for campaigns based on the

consistency model involve increasing the salience or certain target beliefs along with adding specific new beliefs

Implications for Campaign Strategy Message style may be just as important as actual

message construction in situations where consistency is being restored. That is, the imposed behavior must be made to appear compatible with existing attitudes, values, and lifestyles. This means that more attention must go to the social context in which the message is presented

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VALUE CHANGE A more recent campaign planning

model builds on Rokeach ( 1979) theory of value change and is adaptable to relatively personal and intense issues that challenge the self-esteem of those affected by the issue (such as drug and alcohol abusers)

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Value change takes place in at least two ways. The first, following consistency logic holds that value change occurs when an inconsistency is invoked between a high-ranking personal value and other knowledge, attitudes, values, or behavior. Once made known, the value inconsistency is resolved by first increasing the salience of a target value and then by readjusting knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors in line with the target value. Thus, the sequence of effects moves from value inducement (a cognitive restructuring process) to attitudinal and related behavioral change

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Implications for Campaign Objectives

Because value change is a generalized cognitive restructuring process, the scope of its effects span to cognitive, attitudinal, and behavior change. Emphasis, however, is on making specific beliefs or issue stands consistent with more generalized values or ideals

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Implications for Campaign Strategies The value change process suggests several

message strategies. Beliefs may be added to provide a new context for a particular value in question. Or, planners might strengthen the instrumental relationship between a strongly held value and its application to the present situation. As well, attitudes held by diverse target publics are often mobilized when the consequences of a problem are cast in terms of a more universally accepted value. A new value may also be injected into a situation to hedge existing values. When a new value is placed alongside an existing one, audience members may be forced to consider both (thereby at least partially neutralizing their previously entrenched positions)

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theoretical models for public relations campaigns james k. vanleuven colorado state university 1...

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