An experimental study of the effects of positive, negative, and mixed message themes in a religious media campaign

A controlled field experiment was conducted to see if positive, negative, and mixed (negative with hope) messages would evoke differing behavioral and verbal responses in a religious media campaign aimed at soliciting attendance to a religious meeting.

Four treatment groups were randomly selected from a church in Anchorage, Alaska. Letters emphasizing the different themes, along with a ticket of admission, were mailed to three groups. A fourth group received only a ticket. Each letter consisted of a report from an Arab evangelist on the Middle East situation and an invitation to the special meeting.

The messages were not significantly different in attracting attendance to the special meeting. However, the positive message was significantly superior to the others in bringing guests to the meeting.

Other significant differences in message effectiveness included:

The mixed message and ticket only (control) were more effective in causing commitments to attend additional meetings, to in-vite friends to the subsequent revival, and to give money for expenses of the revival.

A mail questionnaire elicited more responses and showed that the mixed message was more likely to be considered "too long," to reduce the desire to hear more about the topic, and to create a desire to know more about the topic. The ticket only and mixed messages created more desire to know about Bible prophecy. The ticket only was strongly more effective in creating a personal desire to hear the evangelist.

The negative message was significantly more likely to be considered "too brief" and more likely to make readers feel that they could do a "great deal to improve the world."

One of the surprising findings was the superiority of the ticket only treatment in several instances, and the general lack of effectiveness of the positive and negative messages. The messages may even have had a reverse effect on some responses.

A possible explanation for the power of the control (ticket only) is that the people responded from loyalty to the church and a desire to hear the speaker. The questionnaire revealed high church involvement and strong fundamentalist religious beliefs among the respondents.

The study should be replicated in other populations, locales, and communication contexts.