The Use of Effective Persuasive Strategies in Obesity Prevention Campaigns: A Content Analysis

Obesity prevalence in the United States has risen significantly, with uneven distributions across populations. Communication can play an important role in affecting health behaviors, and persuasion literature is clear on several evidence- and theory-based strategies, including efficacy, threat, emotional tone, use of graphics when presenting statistics, and narratives. Yet, little is known about the extent to which these strategies appear in obesity prevention efforts. This study examined the prevalence of key persuasive strategies in health communication: emotional appeals, narrative strategies, statistical and graphic evidence, and efficacy cues in U.S. obesity campaign messages. We analyzed 182 print materials from 25 campaigns in 2013 and 106 print materials from 20 campaigns in 2022. Findings reveal gaps in persuasive strategy use, suggesting many campaigns fail to maximize their potential impact. While efficacy messaging was more prevalent, narrative strategy, along with emotional appeals, was barely used across observed time points. This paper calls for more theoretically grounded persuasive campaign messages to address obesity in the U.S.