Examining the Effectiveness of Public Service Advertisement through Hormonal Marketing Approach

Abstract

Public service advertisement concentrates on beliefs and attitudes of its target audiences. The aim to examine the effectiveness of public service advertisement through the hormonal marketing approach. This semi- experimental research which involves pre-test and post-test phases consists of two groups, that is, a test group and a control group. Some female students at the University of Mazandaran who were chosen by matched sampling formed the statistical population of this study and were divided into two groups of ten. These people were asked to watch a video with the theme of public service advertisements. Before and after watching the video, blood sample was taken from each person, and every individual was given a gift card and a choice to donate them to charities or keep them to themselves after watching the video. SPSS version 18 was used as the software for data analysis and hypothesis testing. The results revealed that public service advertisements affected the oxytocin hormone secretion, but this have not any impacts on donations made by the test subjects and public service advertisements didn't influence charitable donations. Changes to oxytocin hormone in response to the effect of public service advertisements was affected by individual differences which depended on personal attributes, location and characteristics.