Current literature on public communication campaigns suggests that challenges and problems remain, even though generally the effectiveness of campaigns has increased in the past years. Challenges and problems are issue-specific and efforts put into influencing particular social behaviours through public communication campaigns have not been significantly successful. Although public communication campaigns are a popular method employed to influence social behaviours in many societies, campaign strategies inadequately consider the impact of cultural elements on social behaviours. The disappointing results through the use of campaigns are exacerbated by the difficulties faced in translating research observations to appropriate campaign strategies. In view of current challenges, this research examines public communication campaigns. Two main variables shaped this research ??? ???identity??? and ???culture???. The research postulated that a person???s identity influences his or her behaviour. It also argued that culture would impact on behaviour. The theoretical orientation drew on interpretivist perspectives. Using a comparative cross-cultural method, this research nominated the issues of organ donation and waste disposal behaviours in public places and the countries of Australia and Singapore for empirical study. Focus group research was employed. A total of sixteen focus groups were conducted ??? eight groups on organ donation (four in Sydney, Australia and four in Singapore) and eight groups on waste disposal behaviours (four in Sydney, Australia and four in Singapore). In line with the theoretical orientation, ???grounded theory??? was used to analyse the focus group transcripts. It is argued that a person???s decision to organ donation or waste disposal behaviour was intimately related to his or her identity. Cultural elements are critical constituents of identity. This is to say, cultural values, beliefs and attitudes have significant impact on social behaviours. These intricacies were made apparent when each issue was seen in the national contexts of Australia and Singapore. This research concludes that issues of identity can partly explain the type of decision a person makes about organ donation, and the kind of waste disposal behaviour a person enacts. It also argues that the effectiveness of campaign strategies can potentially be enhanced, if the strategies are responsive to people???s identities.

Current literature on public communication campaigns suggests that challenges and problems remain, even though generally the effectiveness of campaigns has increased in the past years. Challenges and problems are issue-specific and efforts put into influencing particular social behaviours through public communication campaigns have not been significantly successful. Although public communication campaigns are a popular method employed to influence social behaviours in many societies, campaign strategies inadequately consider the impact of cultural elements on social behaviours. The disappointing results through the use of campaigns are exacerbated by the difficulties faced in translating research observations to appropriate campaign strategies. In view of current challenges, this research examines public communication campaigns. Two main variables shaped this research ??? ???identity??? and ???culture???. The research postulated that a person???s identity influences his or her behaviour. It also argued that culture would impact on behaviour. The theoretical orientation drew on interpretivist perspectives. Using a comparative cross-cultural method, this research nominated the issues of organ donation and waste disposal behaviours in public places and the countries of Australia and Singapore for empirical study. Focus group research was employed. A total of sixteen focus groups were conducted ??? eight groups on organ donation (four in Sydney, Australia and four in Singapore) and eight groups on waste disposal behaviours (four in Sydney, Australia and four in Singapore). In line with the theoretical orientation, ???grounded theory??? was used to analyse the focus group transcripts. It is argued that a person???s decision to organ donation or waste disposal behaviour was intimately related to his or her identity. Cultural elements are critical constituents of identity. This is to say, cultural values, beliefs and attitudes have significant impact on social behaviours. These intricacies were made apparent when each issue was seen in the national contexts of Australia and Singapore. This research concludes that issues of identity can partly explain the type of decision a person makes about organ donation, and the kind of waste disposal behaviour a person enacts. It also argues that the effectiveness of campaign strategies can potentially be enhanced, if the strategies are responsive to people???s identities.

The behaviour of taking out unsecured loans to purchase goods or services is in danger of causing over-indebtedness, especially among young adults. The lending of consumer credits is closely associated with inadequate creditworthiness assessments as well as high interest rates, which implicates that borrowers with narrow margins are granted loans that they are later unable to repay. Consumer information in the form of loan terms and pre-purchase information is not sufficient to give the consumer an understanding of the long-term effects that a consumer credit may have on the personal finance. The aim of this study is to explore how the Swedish Consumer Agency can use cautionary tales to influence young adults’ (18–29 years) attitudes towards consumer credits. The research objective is to present a design proposal for a narrative, as part of a public communication campaign with the Swedish Consumer Agency as messenger. To develop an understanding of possible reasons why young adults take out consumer credits, as well as the consequences for those who cannot repay their loans, quantitative as well as qualitative data was collected from government publications and official statistics. Based on the findings from the data collection, a narrative for a campaign video was created in the format of a screenplay. The narrative's potential impact was then evaluated with the help of prospective users of the campaign video. The results from the user testing show that the narrative activated psychological processes in the participants which are associated with attitudinal impact. Thus, the results suggest that a cautionary tale, which explains potential causes and effects of over-indebtedness that is relatable to young adults, can influence young adults' attitudes towards consumer credits. / Att ta lån utan säkerhet för att köpa varor eller tjänster är ett beteende som särskilt bland unga vuxna riskerar att leda till överskuldsättning. Utlåning av konsumtionskrediter är nära förknippad med bristande kreditprövning så väl som höga räntekostnader, vilket medför att låntagare med små marginaler beviljas lån som de senare inte förmår att betala tillbaka. Konsumentinformation i form av lånevillkor och förköpsinformation är inte tillräckliga för att ge konsumenten en förståelse för vilka effekter konsumtionskrediter kan ha på privatekonomin långsiktigt. Syftet med denna studie är att utforska hur Konsumentverket kan använda varnande berättelser för att påverka unga vuxnas (18–29 år) attityder till konsumtionskrediter. Målet med studien är att utforma ett gestaltningsförslag till ett narrativ, som en del i en offentlig kommunikationskampanj med Konsumentverket som avsändare. För att utveckla en förståelse för varför unga vuxna tar konsumtionskrediter, liksom vilka konsekvenserna blir för dem som inte kan betala sina skulder, samlades kvantitativa så väl som kvalitativa data från statspublikationer och officiell statistik. Med utgångspunkt i fynden från datainsamlingen utformades ett narrativ till en kampanjfilm, gestaltat som ett filmmanus. Narrativets potential till attitydpåverkan utvärderades därefter med hjälp av presumtiva användare av kampanjfilmen. Resultaten från användartesterna visar att narrativet aktiverade psykologiska processer hos testdeltagarna som är associerade med attitydpåverkan. Resultaten föreslår således att en varnande berättelse som redogör för möjliga orsaker till och konsekvenser av överskuldsättning som unga vuxna kan relatera till, kan påverka unga vuxnas attityder till konsumtionskrediter.

The dawn of democracy in South Africa ushered an increasing need for government to interact with the citizens. This study assesses the use of the state of the province address (SOPA) as a communication platform to keep the citizens abreast of the government programmes and deliverables in Limpopo province, South Africa. SOPA is broadcasted mainly from the legislature whilst the communities can view the proceedings in identified public viewing areas. Since SOPA’s inception, there is limited academic studies conducted on the effectiveness of SOPA in general and public viewing areas in particular. To fill this paucity of research, this study reviewed the government communication strategy with specific reference to government communication and information systems (GCIS) which emphasises on the need for government to interact with stakeholders at all levels. Using communication effectiveness and stakeholder theories (also called Izimbizo), this study evaluated the planning process of SOPA and citizens’ views on the effectiveness of the public viewing areas. In-depth interviews and survey were conducted with campaign planners and Mokwakwaila citizens respectively. Data was analysed using thematic analysis for interviews and descriptive statistics for survey. This study found that the internal planning process of the campaign (SOPA) is accordingly linked to the strategic objectives of the province, but inadequate funding hinders the longevity of the campaign. It is also this study’s finding that whilst citizens found SOPA to be effective they however feel that government does not do enough to source feedback after the campaign. This study recommends that there could be an exploration of the new media utility to produce more awareness about the campaign in order to accommodate audience that do not use radio and newspapers. The implications on campaign planners is that they should conduct feedback to improve public participation in future government programmes / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication)