Framing as a Strategic Persuasive Message Tactic

Abstract

It is essential to design eective message tactics for a successful strategic communication campaign. A large body of persuasion literature has documented that one or a combination of communication variables (i.e., message source, message itself, message channel, and message recipient) can lead to cognitive and behavioral changes (see Perlo, 2003; Salovey, Schneider & Apanovitch, 2002; Kahneman & Tversky, 1984). Of these communication elements, the concept of framing as psychological processing of persuasive messages has received a great deal of attention in the areas of strategic communications, including health campaigns (Salovey & Williams-Piehota, 2004; Williams, Clarke, & Borland, 2001; Block & Keller, 1995), marketing campaigns (Shiv, Britton, & Payne, 2004; Grewal, Gotlieb, & Marmorstein, 1994), and political campaigns (Druckman, 2001; Kanner, 2004).