Positive vs. Negative Images

Thanks to everyone who provided responses to our question about the use of positive versus negative images. An MS Word file summary of comments received can be downloaded at http://www.cullbridge.com/Positive-Images.htm

Cheers,
Jay

Jay Kassirer
President, Cullbridge Marketing and Communications
61 Forest Hill Avenue, Ottawa ON, Canada K2C 1P7
Tel: (613) 224-3800,
e-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.cullbridge.com

Here's another observation to support this thread. In the U.S., during the Depression (1930s), unemployment was widespread, industrialization had stalled, and innovation was lagging. A US agency, the Works Progress Admin., commissioned large murals in many public buildings that depicted the world folks were longing for: busy, prosperous - roads, bridges, airplanes, trucks, cars & trains everywhere; abundant farms; humming factories; thriving cities - and the laborer proudly straddling these works of man, providing for his family. (It engendered a distinctive art style as well, for you art historians.) Just go through any big city in the past 30 years and you will realize those WPA murals came true - that vision became manifest. No one envisioned the dark side of this in the '30s however - widespread pollution, environmental injustices, etc etc! Now if we can only embed a well-embroidered vision of the world as green, sustainable, and equitable into public consciousness, to meet a longing for that experience! (And try to imagine the unintended consequences of this as well)

Anne Gracestone, Inc.
Boulder, Colorado USA

And as they say, Mark... What we focus grows. It is a well accepted principle, in meditation, visualisation and when experiencing emotion states, that if we give energy to or focus on a subject, thing or feeling it manifests and increases. This applies to our everyday life too, as emotions play a far greater part in conscious activities than is given credence and when confronted with negativity the cruelty and shock factors are acted out at work and at home, towards others and ourselves. We are wiser to choose our area of focus/growth carefully as we humans, generally speaking, love to see things get bigger and develop. Perhaps this is the underlying appeal of economic and material growth, now that I come to think about it. Les Robinson's work is really perceptive and worth a look I agree and thanks for the quote.

Kind regards,
Paul Payten
GEENI

A few years ago I heard an excellent talk by the director of the Chicago zoo (Lincoln Park Zoo). He said people were becoming more disconnected from the earth, less able to feel love and awe for the natural world, and that dire warnings had made this disconnection worse, laden with fear and hopelessness. He was working to transform the zoo's program to reconnect children with wonder through safe contact programs. See http://www.lpzoo.com/articles/features/education/2007_Camp/index.html. Another aspect of negative (cautionary) messages is that there is a very fundamental tendency to focus on the content of the message we receive. When we are told what not to do, we are thinking about the thing that should not be done, and it stands between us and the positive possibilities. In working with the education of my son, who has autism, to avoid confusion and frustration, we had to almost completely abandon "no" messages and constantly call his attention to the "yes" of the desirable possibilities and the desirable actions he was already taking.

Bill Carter

Water Quality Monitoring & Assessment MC
165 Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
P.O. Box 13087 Austin, TX 78711-3087
Phone: 512-239-6771
Fax: 512-239-4410
[email protected]

To quote my colleague Les Robinson on why 'bad news' and negative images should be avoided: A different way to work with predispositions is often suggested. That is to use negative information or images to increase the amount of dissatisfaction in people's lives. For instance, by showing images of looming climate change disaster, or the damage to lungs from smoking. There are four objections to using negative information or images to increase people's dissatisfactions. First, they run hard up against the human capacity for denial, which is practically infinite. When we attack people's comfort zones, the natural response is to say either 'it won't happen to me' or 'it's not my fault'. The only exception to this is personal 'forensic' information which people can't deny, such as CAT scans of their own lungs. Secondly, they do nothing to equip people with the skills and capacities (self-efficacy) they need to make change happen in their lives. Thirdly, it's emotionally disempowering. People need optimism to implement voluntary changes, and being depressed about the world destroys motivation. Fourthly, it's cruel. Most people's lives are packed full of dissatisfactions and frustrations as it is. There is plenty of material to work with. Why create more?

Regards,
Mark McGrath

Social Marketing Consultant
Social Change Media Group Pty Ltd
http://media.socialchange.net.au/
ABN: 78 104 663 498
tel: (02) 4787 8700
mob: 0403 349 332
email: [email protected]
post: PO Box 156 Annandale NSW 2038

Dr. Tamera Schneider at Wright State University is one of my advisors. She published some research about promoting health behaviors and the citation is:
Schneider, T.R., Salovey, P., Pallonen, U., Mundorf, N., Smith, N., & Steward, W. (2001). Visual and auditory message framing effects on tobacco smoking. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 31, 667-682.

Angela Manuszak

Training and Outreach Coordinator
Miami Conservancy District
38 East Monument Avenue
Dayton, OH 45402
Phone: 937-223-1278 X 3263
Fax: 937-223-4730
Web site: www.miamiconservancy.org

Instructional designers frequently incorporate "non-examples" in learning materials. When behaviors are engrained, non-examples help people recognize what they are doing that needs to be changed. The problem with using non-examples in social marketing materials is that people look at pictures even when they don't read so the non-example may become a reinforcer rather than an illustration of behavior to avoid.

Terri

Jay,

I have always been taught that it is important to model the "positive" behavior since you want to emphasize it as the "norm." That is why in our most recent litter prevention advertising campaign we show people doing the right thing: putting their cigarettes out in ashtrays and properly securing their loads. I first read about this in a report coming out of Arizona State University. The report is copyrighted by Arizona Clean & Beautiful in 1997 and is titled, "How to Create Effective Anti-littering Public Service Announcements Using Social Psychological Rearch," by Renee Bator under the direction of Ingrid Schneider at ASU. See our new litter commercials at: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/swfa/litter/c_media.html

Good luck.
Megan Warfield

Litter Programs Coordinator
WA State Dept. of Ecology
(360) 407-6963
[email protected]

Hi Jay

This site might be of interest - http://www.northwestern.edu/ipr/abcd.html ABCD (asset based community development) looks at harnessing community strengths to address issues/problems. It encourages the identification of assets rather than deficits. An example might make it a bit clearer. In a community with lots of vacant shops, those shops could be seen as a negative, as a sign that business won't commit to the area, or they can be viewed positively as a resource that is immediately available and that can be utilised in any economic development activity. The same way an unemployed person has the asset of time rather than viewing them as having a deficit in work skills. The concepts of ABCD seem to me to have affinity to CBSM (but maybe that might be a long bow to draw). Anyway, my first thought about you discussion point was that the "negative" photo could be reframed by seeing it as step one in the journey from less sustainable behaviour and more sustainable behaviour. The picture then provides a clear message about the positive things that a person can do to move from step one in the journey to the final step.

Regards
Megan Saxby

Project Officer
Small Business Statewide Programs Team
Phone 4321 5945