Fundamentals of Public Communication Campaigns

Introduction

Divided into 16 chapters, this textbook describes the fundamentals of public communication campaigns for beginners; more specifically, for large audiences like undergraduate students and readers from both the United States and countries around the world. Unlike most works on that subject, this textbook has a considerably high international focus, a thorough description of over 700 basic concepts, and numerous real-life case studies―all of which being infused with communication theories. While this is not a perfect volume and there is still progress to be made, the author makes the point that successful public communication campaigns are ones that diversify their strategies and discard the notion that information alone is the solution to induce individual and/or social change. Effective campaigns are no longer based on the erroneous perception that society will improve if audiences acquire more information. Rather, campaigns are increasingly paying attention to context and combining their traditional media and behavior change strategies with social media and direct, face-to-face community action. In the end, this makes the social and human environment more supportive of the desired campaign outcomes.¹

PUBLIC COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGNS

Public communication campaigns are typically large-scale initiatives designed, sponsored, and run by state actors or nonstate actors to alter people’s behaviors, attitudes, social norms, and/or beliefs.² As Gültekin and Gültekin (2012) ...