Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

Shane Hegarty had a great column in the irish Times the other week. Entitled ‘The ads don’t work’, Hegarty questions the effectiveness of advertising campaigns in changing people’s behaviour. As a stand alone tactic, advertising like any communications discipline (PR included) will not bring about a change in the public’s behaviour without the wider influence of socio-economic forces.

For example, the Road Safety Authority runs numerous advertising campaigns during the year about road safety, drink driving, etc, but one has to question their effectiveness at times. Other road safety advocates have called for sports stars to go to schools to preach to children about the dangers of speeding, that ‘boy racers’ should go to morgues to see the victims of road crashes, along with a variety of other shock tactics. However, a story about a prank played on April Fools Day highlighted Hegarty’s argument.

The Irish Times reported on (subscription required) an April Fools’ joke by Mayo County Council who placed “a life-size cardboard cut-out of a Garda car with a speed gun poking from its window” on the side of the road. The prank which cost €200 got numerous motorists to slow down as they approached. It highlighted the fact that motorists will only changed their behaviour if they fear a penalty.

This is not to say that advertising and other communications disciplines do not have a role to play. Realistically though these messages will only be effective if the target audience has a reason to listen to them.