This research work is an investigation into the reception of anti-smoking advertisements
that make use of “fear appeals”. The objective of the research is to bring audience
perceptions, interpretations and making sense processes of such advertising campaigns to
the limelight. Instead of measuring effects or effectiveness of anti-smoking messages using
shocking images, this project has at its basis the assumption of an active audience that
interprets, makes sense and decodes media texts in various ways. Research methods used
in this study are qualitative by nature. Research findings show that the prospective
audience champion the use of anti-smoking advertisements and see the use of fear appeals
as a one-way road to drawing the audience’s attention, they nevertheless perceive these
communication efforts in a highly individualized manner, resisting to advertising techniques
of persuasion and showing signs of desensitization towards fear appeals. Findings show
that advocacy advertising using fear appeals are always decoded within the wider media
context and the identity of smokers themselves often nourished by media representations
of smoking, which plays an role in the way the audience gives different interpretations and
relates to these messages.