The Impact of Emotional Responses to Public Service Announcements: The Case of Gun Violence in Schools

• Author: Patrick Kenney,Ryan Deutsch,Kim Fridkin,Manuel Gutiérrez
• Published date: 01 July 2021
• Date: 01 July 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X211004158
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X211004158

American Politics Research

2021, Vol. 49(4) 347 –358

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/1532673X211004158

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Article

Introduction

The headlines are eerily and sadly familiar: “3 people killed

in shooting at California high school parking lot” (New York

Times, May 6, 2020), “Mourning after the Saugus High

School shooting” (New York Times, November 14, 2019),

“High School student in Santa Rosa shot schoolmate” (New

York Times, October 22, 2019). According to data collected

by the US Center for Homeland Defense & Security, the

average number of days between school shootings in the

United States has decreased to an all-time low of 77 days.1

Several organizations have been created to focus exclusively

on curbing gun violence in schools. For example, March for

Our Lives was founded by survivors of the mass shootings at

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida

where 17 people were killed and 17 more people were injured

when a former student opened fire on students and staff with

a semi-automatic weapon.

Advocacy organizations working to reduce gun violence

in the United States have several common goals. First,

these organizations seek to understand the causes of gun

violence and find ways of curbing violence in the future.

Second, several of these groups aim to change public atti-

tudes regarding common-sense gun policy, including uni-

versal background checks and regulating semi-automatic

assault weapons (see giffords.org, e.g.). Third, a number of

these organizations seek to mobilize citizens to advocate

for changes in gun laws at the local, state, and federal lev-

els. For example, an explicit goal of Everytown for Gun

Safety is for people “to take action that will help us pass

common-sense laws and implement policies that will save

lives” (everytown.org).

A common tool of advocacy organizations is the develop-

ment and dissemination of public service advertisements

(PSAs). PSAs, according to O’Keefe and Reid (1990), are pro-

motional materials that focus on problems of public concern.

PSAs typically attempt to increase public awareness of such

problems and their possible solutions, and in many instances

also try to influence public beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors

concerning them.” (O’Keefe & Reid, 1990, p. 67). And, gun

violence prevention groups, like the Brady Campaign to

Prevent Gun Violence, Everytown for Gun Safety, and Sandy

Hook Promise, utilize PSAs to draw attention to the problem

of gun violence, raise awareness of ways to prevent shootings,

and advocate for changes in gun policy.

1004158APRXXX10.1177/1532673X211004158American Politics ResearchFridkin et al.

research-article2021

1Arizona State University, Tempe, USA

Corresponding Author:

Kim Fridkin, Arizona State University, 6752 Coor Building, CLAS, Tempe,

AZ 85287, USA.

Email: fridkin@asu.edu

The Impact of Emotional Responses to

Public Service Announcements: The

Case of Gun Violence in Schools

Kim Fridkin1, Patrick Kenney1, Manuel Gutiérrez1,

and Ryan Deutsch1

Abstract

We examine how people’s emotional reactions to gun violence public service announcements (PSAs) influence information

acquisition, policy preferences, and political engagement. Utilizing a non-student sample of more than 100 participants, we

look people’s emotional reactions (i.e., anger, sadness, contempt, and fear) to two Sandy Hook Promise PSAs. We assess

people’s emotional reactions by relying on two complimentary measures: the traditional self-report measures as well as

facial expression analysis. We demonstrate that when people are feeling sad after watching the Sandy Hook Promise PSAs,

they are significantly more likely to retain information from a news article about school violence. Furthermore, feelings of

contempt and fear lead people to seek out additional information about gun violence. In addition, we find when people feel

anger, contempt, and fear after watching the PSAs, they change their views of gun policies. Finally, fear and contempt increase

people’s likelihood of becoming politically mobilized.

Keywords

gun violence, emotions, political engagement, gun policy