Using radio advertising to promote blood donation

Abstract

The World Health Organization states that the donation of blood by voluntary, non-remunerated blood donors is crucial for the safety and sustainability of national blood supplies and that it is necessary to use effective communication strategies to recruit them. This implies the need to understand how advertising works. In the promotion of blood donation, radio is an ideal channel of communication, in which the credibility of the spokesperson from the perspective of the listener is fundamental. Therefore, this paper aims to design and validate a model of advertising effectiveness that explains blood donation through a holistic approach that considers, in addition to the different responses of individuals to advertising (cognitive, affective, and conative) the impact of spokesperson credibility on each of these responses. Moreover, we investigate the moderating role of donation inhibitors since the response to an ad is moderated by individual differences. The sample comprised 987 regular radio listeners. We draw theoretical and operational conclusions for those in charge of communication programs targeted at voluntary donation. So, transfusion centers should consider both spokesperson credibility and ad creativity when planning their promotional campaign and their brand image due to the maximum effectiveness that can be achieved simply by balancing these three elements. However, the importance of these elements for explaining the intention to donate blood differs in the three groups analyzed according to their particular donation inhibitors. This shows that one single message should not be used, but rather various messages tailored to each of the groups.