The role of source characteristics and message appeals in public service advertising (PSA) messages: An application of Fishbein's expectancy value model and the match-up hypothesis for anti-binge drinking campaigns targeting college students

Abstract

Guided by a match-up hypothesis and Fishbein’s expectancy-value theory, this research examines the effects of message sources and appeals in anti-binge-drinking public service ads (PSAs) on college students' binge-drinking attitudes and behavioral intention. College students (N = 251) participated in a 2 sources (expertise vs. similarity) × 2 appeals (expectancy vs. valuative) factorial experiment. Results show that there were conditional impacts of a similar source (peer) on favorable attitudes toward the PSAs. Messages were more effective when there was consistency between source characteristics and appeals (i.e., expert/expectancy and peer/valuative). The usefulness of Fishbein’s expectancy-value theory and the alternative framework for PSA developers are discussed.