Page 282 - The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

258 The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

more a person is exposed to an issue, the more important that person will
think the issue is. While the media may not tell us specifically what to think
about an issue, they do tell us what to think about in general; this is the
power of first-level agenda setting. The media’s role in first-level agenda
setting is supported by numerous case studies (Wallack et al., 1993;
Wallack & Dorfman, 1996). In addition, there are numerous studies in the
agenda-setting literature, using a variety of methods (Carroll & McCombs,
2006; McCombs et al., 1997), that find correlations between the level of
media and public attention. The “truth” campaign is a clear example of the
power of message determination on public awareness (Farrelly et al., 2002).
In addition to reporting the link between communications to the public
(either from the media or coalitions), the public health literature is replete
with best practices. Paralleling the recommendations for how to attract
media attention are recommendations for how to capture the public’s at-
tention. Some of the recommended actions for gaining exposure are to
conduct an advertising campaign, provide speakers for events, host public
and private events, and hand out leaflets. A lengthy discussion of specific
strategies and tactics for effective message dissemination can be found in
Siegel and Lotenberg (2007); not surprisingly, their discussion includes
many of the basic communication precepts that can be found in the mar-
keting literature.
Of course, exposure to media is not enough. For communication to be
effective, people must pay attention. The public health literature contains
extensive sets of recommendations regarding how a communication
should be designed to achieve this end (Siegel & Lotenberg, 2007; Wallack
et al., 1993; Wallack & Dorfman, 1996). The suggestions overlay the “me-
dia hooks” noted above and also draw on the conventional marketing
communications literature.

Communicating to Legislators by Media

Within the public health literature, there is a strong belief (supported
by case studies) that if legislators know that the public is interested in an
issue, they are more likely to take action. Of course, in these studies, the
public’s interest is accompanied by beliefs that support action. The media
and stimulated public interest communicate to policymakers that they
should consider upstream remedies as solutions to piqued public con-
cerns. In the mass communication literature, the findings are more mixed.
Tan and Weaver (2007) have argued that based on time series analysis, lit-
tle evidence exists to support the contention that, taken in isolation, the
degree of importance the public gives to an issue influences policy (as