This is an assignment activity for the persuasion and health sections of CMN.

You’ve learned about persuasive strategies and about efforts at changing behavior. This activity is designed to help you APPLY what you have learned by identifying, sharing, and discussing a specific incident of persuasive communication.

1. First, select a health-related PSA (public service announcement) video from YouTube. This PSA must meet specific criteria:

• It must be professionally produced and/or distributed by a national or state-wide non-profit. Lots of PSAs on YouTube are created for high school or college health classes–do NOT choose one of those.
• It must be between 30 seconds and 90 seconds long.
• You must be able to intelligently and accurately apply the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) from the Persuasion lecture to the video

2. After you have selected your PSA, write a 150-250 word paragraph (up to one typed double-spaced Times New Roman pt.12 page) explaining how certain components of the PSA are expressed through the EPPM. Your analysis should:

• Summarize the PSA’s argument and how the PSA aims to persuade audiences.
• Justify how the targeted audience will most likely respond according to the EPPM. The justification will use cues from the PSA to select the most likely EPPM pathway that the PSA will follow. Make sure to include what is the most likely outcome of the message based on the components of the PSA and the EPPM (e.g. Adaptive Changes or Maladaptive Changes).
• Offer two alternative message strategies that the PSA could have used to achieve a better EPPM outcome. DO NOT imagine entirely different PSAs. Instead, try to think of the changes that could be made to YOUR PSA that, if implemented, would result in a better outcome.

[If you re-examine Persuasion Video #3 around the 4:00 mark, you will have a clear sense of the task required.]

3. Post a link to your PSA and the text of your analysis in a single post below.

4. Read (and view) a number of posts by your classmates. For at least two of them, provide a thoughtful, insightful response. Your response should refer specifically to either elements of the EPPM or to the six principles of persuasion from the reading, but should also reflect your original (and even critical) analysis.