Physical activity (PA) messages are more or less effective depending on the gain, loss, mixed, or neutral frame of the information presented. Whether the frame of a message promoting children’s physical activity impacts parents’ support of their children’s PA is unknown. As a first step to addressing this research gap, this study examined parents’ evaluations of differently framed, publically available children’s PA video advertisements (ads). Moms (n=84) and dads (n=99) with at least one child aged 8– 13 year viewed 4 ads. Following each ad they completed measures of ad engagement including message involvement, message believability, attitudes towards the message within the ad and attitudes towards the advertisements as a whole. Within-participant ANCOVAs with bonferroni post hocs indicated that parents considered the loss-framed ad less believable than all other ads (ps<0.001). The gain-framed ad was considered more believable than the neutral-framed ad (p<0.01). Additionally, participants’ attitudes towards the gain- and neutral-framed ads weremore favourable compared to the loss- and mixed-framed advertisements (ps<0.001). These findings suggest that parents consider gain- and neutral-framed messages more engaging than loss- and mixed-framed messages.
Whether these perceptions translate into changes in parents’ perceptions and behaviours related to supporting their children’s PA remains to be determined.
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