• Ad Age, Thursday, March 4, 2010 10:52 AM

Public Service Advertising that tries to cut down on binge drinking by relying on "self-conscious" emotions such as guilt and shame to make their point may drive undergraduates to actually drink more than they would otherwise, according to a study by Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management to be published in the Journal of Marketing Research.

The results go against conventional wisdom, Jeremy Mullman reports, that spotlighting the personal consequences of self-destructive behavior is effective. Kellogg marketing professor Nidhi Agrawal says that people who are already feeling guilt or shame resort to "defensive processing" when confronted with more of either, and disassociate themselves from the message. These findings can be applied to other issues, Agrawal suggests.

Agrawal makes two suggestions: PSAs placed in positive surroundings -- such as in a sitcom or a positive magazine article -- resonate better than those in "tense or negative contexts." And focusing on how to avoid situations that lead to binge drinking work is better than showing the consequences of the behavior. "It's important that the messages be toned down and as positive as possible," she says.

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