PREFACE The 1st edition of Public communication campaigns in 1981, with William Paisley as co-editor, broke new ground in publishing about theory, research and practice in non-profit communication campaigns. Public communication campaigns, 2nd ed., with Charles Atkin as co-editor, benefited from feedback about the uses and needs of the 1st edition. In both editions, the book has been widely adopted for classes, and used for research and training, in Communication, Journalism, Public Relations, Mass Media, Advertising, and Public Health programs, in undergraduate, Master's and Ph.D. classes. Over 13,000 copies of the two editions have been sold. Clearly this book has an established presence, broad scope, and rigorous reputation.
The 3rd edition continues in the tradition of ongoing improvement and expansion into new areas. Most chapters are entirely new, reflecting up-to-date theory, research, experience, and campaigns. We keep a few, significantly revised, central chapters and campaign samplers from the 2nd edition.
Section I -- Historical and Theoretical Foundations -- begins with Paisley's overview of the conceptual and historical foundations of public communication campaigns. The section continues with McGuire's comprehensive review of the social-psychological research on persuasive communication with specific practical implications, Atkin's integrative summary of the theoretic foundations of and practical guidelines for the design of health messages and campaigns, Dervin and Frenette's theoretical overview and summary of experiences from campaigns using the sense-making approach, and Stephenson and Witte's review and analysis of the use of fear appeals (grounded in a recent theoretic model for message design).
Section II -- Campaign Design and Evaluation -- includes Valente's tutorial on campaign evaluation, Atkin and Freimuth's much-revised overview of formative evaluation emphasizing message design, Rice and Foote's updated explication and application of a systems approach to campaign evaluation, Salmon and Murray-Johnson's theoretic and pragmatic analysis of the distinctions between campaign effects and effectiveness, and Snyder's brief but comprehensive meta-analysis of the effectiveness of large-scale mediated campaigns.
Section III -- Lessons from the Field -- provides Flora's review of the famous Stanford community health projects, Cappella, Fishbein and Hornik's integration of theoretical foundations (especially media priming) for health campaigns as applied to the current national anti-drug campaign, Dozier, Grunig and Grunig's analysis of the potential for public relations to be two-way symmetric communication campaigns, and Piotrow and Kincaid's discussion of a strategic communication approach toward family health and reproductive planning in international settings.
Section IV -- A Campaign Sampler -- covers a wide range of short "lessons from the field", with many new, intriguing and controversial campaigns, ranging from bears, cows and rats, to drinking, littering and sensation-seeking.
Section V -- New Approaches and Current Challenges -- introduces a variety of recent developments in communication campaigns: Bracht's overview of community partnership strategies, Singhal and Rogers's review and analysis of the entertainment-education approach, Buller and colleagues' case study of using World Wide Web-based messages and resources for smoking cessation and prevention, Lieberman's conceptual and empirical introduction to the use of interactive CD and computer games for children's health campaigns, and Wallack and Dorfman's review and suggestions for using media advocacy as a policy component of health communication.
The volume ends with Section VI -- Related Books, An Index, and About the Contributors.