I have just decided to do the Attitude Change topic for my first blog assessment.
This type of psychology interests me because of its application to politics and advertising. I am just starting my research now but it is clear that the tenets of successful attitude change are either not utilised helpfully by governmental bodies or are used in a negative way by private business with a buck to gain. I think there is much room for improvement with public messages in their effectiveness to encourage real attitude and belief change.
One TV ad came to mind when I was reading the blog topic, it is currently screening on the network channels and its aim is to promote multiculturism and racial tolerance. It involves a painfully obvious group of multicultural people, all playing a game of football, complete with very practical traditional ceremonial clothing. Im not sure if many people have seen it but it uses the footy game as a symbol of how a racially tolerant society should run.
In my opinion this advertising campaign is a very inadequate attempt at changing people's attitudes. This ad seems a waste of resources and I'm sure will have nil effect on anyone. Although I applaude the ad makers central messages I think the form the message takes is amateurish. The symbolism used in the ads is too simplistic and doesn't 'pack a punch' and therefore doesn't illicit the attention of TV viewers, which is the foremost aim of advertisement. I think the medium of this message - a TV ad, in my view, is not appropriate for the type of attitude change it concerns. Attempted attitude change of racist people will require more than an ad telling them not to be racist. There needs to be motivation and a social shaming aspect of an undesirable attitude to be near successful, but this ad is too simple and superficial. Even the acting made me cringe.
Has anyone seen the ad I speak of?
What do you think?
Do you think it will change peoples attitudes?
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2 comments:
Hey Emily,
I havent seen the add yet however from your description i have to agree that it sounds like a weak attempt at changing attitudes. after some initial research (i am also doing the question on attitude change) changing someones attitude about another cultural group sounds very difficult, my understanding is that generally people already know that racism is not acceptable yet still posess those feelings. So the current campaign isnt giving them any new information, it maybe is just raising the issue of racism in our society. maybe an attitude change campaign of this kind would benifit more from an informative standpoint (alot of racism is a lack of understanding.
Furthermore the media is still representing that racial group in a very stereotypical and generally negative light so the effectiveness of any campaign for equality is going to be immediately questioned.
Good luck with your assignment! ! !
Hi Emily, I'm wondering whether the ad is available on the internet somewhere?
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