Abstract

The use of fear appeals in the campaign against HIV/AIDS has become controversial with the developing nations believing in its efficacy as opposed to the developed countries who do not believe in it. This study aimed at examining the perception and attitude of respondents to fear appeal based HIV/AIDS campaign messages within Ibadan metropolis, an urban area in south western Nigeria. A cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted in which 250 copies of questionnaire were administered out of which 187 were returned. Results showed that 90 (48.1%) respondents thought that using fear is not an effective means of attitude change, while 74.9% of the respondents admitted that the use of fear appeal in HIV/AIDS messages are effective in creating fear in people. Fear appeal messages in HIV/AIDS campaign will only succeed in arousing the curiosity of the people to ultimately ignore the fear and engage in high risk behaviour. The proper use of simple messages to create adequate awareness among people is the key to persuading them to modify their attitude towards HIV/AIDS.

Key Words: Fear Appeal, Messages, HIV/AIDS, Campaign, Sexual Behaviour

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*Dr. Olayinka Susan Ogundoyin, Ph.D., is a lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State, Nigeria.

^JCMRJournal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 8, No. 1, Sp. 1, May 2016, 66 – 81