Presenter(s): Hannah Lewman − Advertising
Faculty Mentor(s): Kim Sheehan
Poster 114
Research Area: Strategic Communications
Funding: Clark Honors College Thesis Research Grant
The disconnect between scientific certainty in the existence and causes of climate change and public belief in climate change shows the need for better communication to the American public. While this type of communication is a rich area of study for social scientists who study everything from how the distance of an event impacts how people think about climate change to the word-level significance of phrases like “climate change” and “global warming,” many communicators are not social scientists. They’re professional creatives. My thesis will combine social science research on framing and identity with advertising techniques to show how agencies can create tailored campaigns for different regions of the United States. I will also test if this regionally-segmented approach to climate communications is more effective than trying to target the entire United States with one campaign. Testing the potential of regionally-targeted campaigns opens the door to future research that fine-tunes messages for each area of the country.