Portuguese road safety campaigns: an analysis of its influence

Focused in road safety campaigns, thisstudy aims to analyze the attitude of the Portuguesedrivers towards these campaigns, particularly in relationto different creative dimensions. In addition,based on this attitude, this research aims to proposea segmentation of Portuguese drivers accordingto their attitude towards these campaigns. In termsof methodology we developed a conceptual modelinvolving creative dimensions of these campaigns.Subsequently a questionnaire was administered toa sample of 305 Portuguese drivers, where it wasintended to assess the influence of each dimensionto the driving behavior. Based on the results wecome up with some contributions to the validationof the model and also to identify three distinctgroups of drivers in terms of att itude to communicationcampaigns: “Indiff erent”, “Influenced”, and“Interested.”As main results, we found that theseroad safety campaigns are not consensual, and thatthere are drivers who reject this type of campaignsand others who identify themselves as being stronglyinfluenced by them. It was also found that thestructure of messages based in dramatic tones andfear appeals could lead to an increase in its persuasivepotential.