The Relationship of Perceived Beer Ad and PSA Quality to High School Students' Alcohol-Related Beliefs and Behaviors

An ethnically diverse sample of 578 ninth and twelfth graders assessed comparable pro-social advertisements (PSAs) and beer advertisements, rating beer ads more favorably on production quality and PSAs more favorably on content characteristics. PSAs demonstrated weaker and less reliable impact on decision making and sometimes backfired. Production values were most relevant to variables early in the decision-making process. Message content mattered more for later stages of decision making. The results suggested that effects of logical appeals in PSAs come too late in the decision-making process.