The personalization of persuasion: Methods for constructing the recipient’s image in German-language anti-smoking campaigns for youth

Résumé

Constructing the image of the ideal recipient serves as an important mechanism for increasing the effectiveness of social advertising. It ensures the identification of the target audience with the advertising message and stimulates cognitive processes that contribute to the formation of stable motivation to abandon harmful habits, particularly smoking. This article explores the key mechanisms used to model the image of the recipient in anti-smoking advertisements, viewed through the lens of targeting a youth reference group. The goal of the article is to analyze the image of the recipient in terms of its alignment with the cognitive attitudes and behavioral patterns of the target audience. Special attention is given to the recipient’s image as a key element of advertising influence aimed at rethinking perceptions of smoking and reducing its social acceptability among young people. The relevance of the study is determined by the rapid development of media communications and the growing number of preventive advertising campaigns aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles and preventing the spread of harmful habits such as smoking among youth. In this context, studying how advertising messages correspond to the sociocognitive expectations of the target group becomes particularly important. The practical significance of the study lies in the potential to apply its findings in the development and adaptation of effective social advertising messages targeting young audiences. The conclusions can be used in the creation of advertising campaigns aimed at reducing the social acceptability of harmful habits among youth. The research materials are of scholarly interest to specialists in media linguistics, discourse analysis, socio- and psycholinguistics, as well as to practitioners involved in the design and implementation of youth-oriented social advertising campaigns.