Increasing the Effectiveness of Communications to Consumers: Recommendations Based on Elaboration Likelihood and Attitude Certainty Perspectives

This article makes suggestions about how to effectively communicate the risks associated with products and services to consumers. The authors realize this goal by drawing on several rich streams of literature on the psychology of persuasion. Specifically, they provide guidelines for developing effective communications based on the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion and integrating emerging research on attitude certainty. On the basis of these research areas, the authors further discuss how to diagnose why a particular communication may not have proved effective. Finally, they provide examples to help illustrate the actual steps policy makers and others might take in developing communications to warn or inform consumers.