pink-book

— Relative importance of folk wisdom, life
experience, and value of common
sense compared with formal education
and advanced degrees
— Ways that wealth is measured (material
goods, personal relationships)
— Relative value put on different age
groups (youth versus elders)
— Whether people are more comfortable
with traditions or open to new ways
— Favorite and forbidden foods
— Manner of dress and adornment
— Body language, particularly whether
touching or proximity is permitted in
specific situations
• Are based on concepts and materials
developed for and with the involvement of
the intended audience. (Substituting
culturally specific images, spokespeople,
language, or other executional detail is not
sufficient unless the messages have been
tested and found to resonate with the
intended audience. Formative research
with audience members takes on added
CHOOSING MESSAGES FOR YOUNG SENSATION SEEKERS
Research has found that some youth have a preference for novel experiences and stimuli.
Called “sensation seekers,” members of this group have four subcategories that represent
degrees of the characteristic:
1. Thrill- and adventure-seeking (e.g., parachuting and scuba diving)
2. Experience-seeking (e.g., nonconforming lifestyle and musical tastes, drugs,
unconventional friends)
3. Disinhibition (sensation through social stimulation; e.g., parties, social drinking, a
variety of sex partners)
4. Boredom susceptibility (restlessness when things are the same for too long)
Some health communicators working on drug abuse prevention programs have found that
focusing on sensation seekers with messages that appeal to this aspect of their
personalities can be effective in promoting attention to and recall of the message and in
affecting factors such as behavioral intention and attitudes.
For example, a University of Kentucky program designed for adolescents a creative highsensation
television PSA that focused on the importance of alternatives to substance use
for meeting sensation needs. The PSA, titled “Common,” featured heavy metal music and
quick-action cuts of high-sensation activities. “Wasted,” which had the highest sensation
value, also had heavy metal music and displayed the words “wasted,” “blasted,” “stoned,”
and “fried.” Voice-over and illustrative footage accompanied each word (e.g., “with drugs
you can get fried” had footage of a monk’s self-immolation). It closed with the words
“without drugs you can still get high” and offered examples of high-sensation alternatives.
Note. From “Reaching At-Risk Populations in a Mass Media Drug Abuse Prevention Campaign:
Sensation Seeking as a Targeting Variable,” by P. Palmgreen et al. In Drugs & Society 8(3), pp. 29–45.
1995, Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press. Adapted with permission.
60 Developing and Pretesting Concepts, Messages, and Materials