Wearing safety helmets on riding motorcycles has become a main concern in Taiwan. In Japan (2006), the death rate caused by wearing no helmet is 0.0057%; In Korea (2006), the death rate is 0.0131% and In Taiwan (2006), the death rate is 0.0175% (National Police Agency, 2009). But relevant studies concerning how regulatory focus and fear appeal succeed in improving audiences’ purchasing intention is limited. In this study, the helmet is taken to be the research object and an accomplishment is made to identify the effects of regulatory focus and fear appeal on advertisement effectiveness. The conceptual framework is developed by referring to a chain of literature reviews and hypotheses developments. An experiment by using 2 (promotion vs. prevention of regulatory focus) X 2 (high vs. low of fear appeal) is conducted. The results indicate that high fear advertisements increase participants’ ad believability and ad likability. Similarly, promotion focused advertisements enhance participants’ ad believability and ad likability. Moreover, fear level and regulatory focus interact significantly on ad believability and ad likability. As expected, these ad believability and ad likability significantly influence participants’ attitudes and behavioral intentions.

Aaker, D. A., & Stayman D. M. (1990). Measuring audience perceptions of commercials and relating them to ad impact. Journal of Advertising Research, 30(4), pp. 7-17.
Aaker, J. L., & Lee, A. Y. (2001). I seek pleasures and we avoid pains: the role of self-regulatory goals in information processing and persuasion. Journal of Consumer Research, 28(1), pp. 33-49.
Ajzen, I. & Fishbein M. (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behaviour. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Anderson, E. W. (1998). Customer satisfaction and word of mouth. Journal of Service Research 1(1), pp. 5-17.
Avnet, T. & Higgins E. T. (2006). How regulatory fit affects value in consumer choices and opinions. Journal of Marketing Research, 43(1), pp. 1-10.
Avnet, T. & Higgins, E. T. (2003). Locomotion, assessment, and regulatory fit: value transfer from how to what, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39(9), pp. 525-530.
Beltramini, R. F. (1982). Advertising perceived believability scale. Proceedings of the Southwestern Marketing Association, pp. 1-3.
Beltramini, R. F. (1988). Perceived believability of warning label information presented in cigarette advertising. Journal of Advertising. 17(1), pp. 26-32.
Beltramini, R. F. & Evants, K. R (1985). Perceived believability of research results information in advertising , Journal of Advertising, 14(3) , 1985, pp.18-31.
Bergkvist, L. & Rossiter, J. R. (2008). The role of ad likability in predicting an ad’s campaign performance. Journal of Advertising, 37(2), pp. 85-97.
Biel, A. L (1990). Love the ad. by the product? Why ling the advertising and preferring the brand aren’t such strange bedfellows after all. Admap, September.
Biel, A. L. & Bridgwater C. A. (1990). Attributes of likeable television commercials. Journal of Advertising Research, 30(3), pp. 38-44.
Bloch, P. H. & Richins, M. L. (1983). A theoretical model for the study of product importance perceptions. Journal of Marketing. 47(3), pp. 69-81.
Bloch, P. H.; Sherrell, D. L. & Ridgway, N. M. (1986). Consumer search: an extended framework. Journal of Consumer Research, 13(1), pp. 119-126.
Bagozzi, R.P., Baumgartner, J. & Yi, Y. (1989). An investigation into the role of intention as mediators of the attitude-behavior relationship. Journal of Economic Psychology, 10 (1), pp. 35-62.
Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC) (2008). 50% of school kids wearing no helmets when riding on motorcycles.
Brown, S. P. & Stayman, D. M. (1992). Antecedents and consequences of attitude toward the ad: a meta-analysis. Journal of Consumer Research, 19(1), pp. 34-51.
Buchholz, L. M. & Smith, R. E. (1991). The role of consumer involvement in determining cognitive response to broadcast advertising. Journal of Advertising, 20(1). pp. 4-17.
Bureau of Health Promotion (2007). Sweating is better than bleeding － the experience to strongly promote to wear helmets when riding in taiwan. Cherish Your Life. Retrieved July 10, 2007, from http://health99.doh.gov.tw/PreciousLifeZone/PreciousLife_detail.aspx?topicno=99&CN=&page=9
Celsi, R. L. & Olson, J. C. (1988). The role of involvement in attention and comprehension processes. Journal of Consumer Research, 15(2), pp. 210-224.
Cesario, J., Grant, H., & Higgins, E. T. (2004). Regulatory fit and persuasion: transfer from feeling right. Journal of Personality and Social Psyshology, 86, pp. 388-404.
Chen, M.-F. (2007). Consumer attitudes and purchase intentions in relation to organic foods in Taiwan: moderating effects of food-related personality traits. Food Quality and Preference, 18 (7), pp.1008-1021.
Claeys, C., Swinne, A., & Abeele, P.V. (1995). Consumers’ mean-end and chains for “think” and “feel” products. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 12(), pp. 193-208.
Cronbach, L. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16, pp. 297-334.
Cunningham, W. A., Raye, C. L., & Johnson, M. K. (2005). Neural correlates of evaluation associated with promotion and prevention regulatory focus. Journal of Cognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience, 5(2), pp. 202-211.
Dodds, W. B., Monroe, K. B. & Grewal, D. (1991). Effects of price, brand, and store information on buyers’ product evaluations. Journal of Marketing Research. 28(3), pp. 307-319.
Dubitsky, T. M., & Walker, D. (1994). Why liking matters. Journal of Advertising Research, 34(3), pp. 9-18.
Duke, C. R., Pickett, G. M., Carlson, L. & Grove, S. J (1993). A method for evaluating the ethics of fear appeals. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 12(1), pp. 120-129.
Fishbein, M. (1967). Attitude and the prediction of behaviour. In readings in attitude theory and measurement, Martin. Fishbein (ed.), New York: John Wiley, pp. 477-492.
Fishbein, M. & Ajzen I. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention and behaviour: an introduction to theory and research reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, pp. 453.
Freud, S. (1950). Beyond the pleasure principle. New York: Liveright. (Original work published 1920)
Good, D. J (1990). Utilizing consumer involvement to market services. Review of Business, 11(4), pp. 3.
Gotlieb, J. B., & Sarel, D. (1991). Comparative advertising effectiveness: the role of involvement and source credibility. Journal of Advertising, 20(1), pp. 38-45.
Grewal, D., Kavanoor, S., Fern, E. F., Costley, C., & Barnes, J. (1997). Comparative versus noncomparative advertising: a meta-analysis. Journal of Marketing, 61(4), pp. 1-15.
Higbee, K. L. (1969). Fifteen years of fear arousal: research on threat appeals: 1953-1968. Psychological Bulletin, 72(6), pp. 426-444.
Higgins, E. T. (1987). Self-discrepancy: a theory relating self and affect. Psychological Review, 94(3), pp. 319-340.
Higgins, E. T. (1997). Beyond pleasure and pain. American Psychologist, 52(12). pp. 1280-1300.
Higgins, E. T. (2000). Making a good decision: value from fit. American Psychologist, 55(11), pp. 1217-1230.
Higgins, E. T. (2002). How self-regulation creates distinct values: the case of promotion and prevention decision making. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 12(3), pp.177-191.
Hoffman, D. L. & Novak, T. P. (1996). Marketing in hypermedia computer-mediated environments: conceptual foundations. Journal of Marketing, 60(3), pp. 50-68.
Houston, M. J. & Michael L. R. (1978). Conceptual and methodological perspectives on involvement. in Proceedings of AMA Conference of Educators’ 1978, S. C. Jain, ed., Chicago: American Marketing Association, pp. 184-187.
Huang, L. M. (1999). The message design of fear appeals in health promotion campaigns. Mass Communication Research, 61, pp. 99-135.
Huffman, C. & Michael H. (1993). Goal-oriented experiences and the development of knowledge. Journal of Consumer Research, 20(2), pp. 190-207.
Hyman, M., R. & Tansey, R. (1990). The ethics of psychoactive ads. Journal of Business Ethics, 9(2), pp. 105-114.
Janis, I. L. (1968). When fear is healthy. Psychology Today, 1(11), pp. 46-48, 60, 61.
Janis, I. L., & Feshbach, S. (1953). Effects of fear-arousing communications. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 48, pp. 78-92.
Job, R. F. S. (1988). Effective and ineffective use of fear in health promotion campaigns. American Journal of Public Health, 78(2), pp. 163.
Kim, Yeung-Jo (2006). The role of regulatory focus in message framing in antismoking advertisement for adolescents. Journal of Advertising. 35(1), pp.143-151.
King, K. W. & Reid, L. N. (1989). Fear arousing anti-drinking and driving PSAs: do physical injury threats influence young adults? Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, 12(1), pp. 155-175.
Kotler, P. (1997). Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, Implementation, and Control. 9th ed., NJ: Prentice Hall.
Krisher, III, Howard, P., Susan, A. D., & John, M. D. (1973). Fear-provoking recommendations, intentions, to take preventive actions, and actual preventive actions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 26(2), pp. 310-308.
Krugman, H. E. (1965). The impact of television advertising: learning without involvement. Public Opinion Quarterly. 29(3), pp. 349-356
Krugman, H. E. (1966/1967). The measurement of advertising involvement. Public Opinion Quarterly, 30(4), pp. 583-596.
Lafferty, B. A. & Goldsmith, R. E. (1999). Corporate credibility’s role in consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions when a high versus a low credibility endorser is used in the ad. Journal of Business Research, 44(2), pp. 109-116.
LaTour, M. S. & Zahra, S. A (1989). Fear appeal as advertising strategy: should they be used? Journal of Consumer Marketing, 6(2), pp. 61-71.
LaTour, M. S., & Rotfeld, H. J. (1997). There are threats and (maybe) fear-caused arousal: theory and confusions of appeals to fear and fear arousal itself. Journal of Advertising, 26(3), pp. 45-59.
Laurent, G. & Kapferer, J. N. (1985). Measuring consumer involvement profiles. Journal of Marketing Research. 22(1), pp. 41-53.
Lavidge, R. J. & Gary S. (1961). A model for predictive measurement of advertising effectiveness. Journal of Marketing, 25(6), pp. 59-62.
Lee, K. H. (2004). The Difference between Celebrity and Brand Images under Celebrity Credibility: The Effects of Endorsements in Advertising. National Central Library. Taiwan.
Leventhal, H. (1967). Fear-for your health. Psychology Today, 1(5), pp. 55-58.
Lin, Y. F. (2007). The Persuasion Effect of Self construal and Regulatory Focus on Health Food Advertising: The Moderating Effect of Risk Perception. National Taiwan Normal University. Master thesis.
Lin, M. R., Chang, S. H. Huang, W. Z., Hwang, H. F., & Pai, L. (2003). Factors associated with severity of motorcycle injuries among young adult riders. Journal of Annals of Emergency Medicine, 41(6), pp. 783-791.
Luts, R. J., S. B. Mackenzie & G. E. Blech (1986). The role of attitude toward the ad as a mediator of advertising effectiveness: a test of competing explanations. Journal of Marketing Research, 23(2), pp. 130-143.
Mackenzie, S. B., Lutz, R. J. & Belch, G.. E. (1986). The role of attitude toward the ad as a mediator of advertising effectiveness – a test of competing explanations. Journal of Marketing Research, 23(2), pp. 130-143.
Maheswaran, D & Meyers-Levy, J. (1990). The influence of message framing and issue involvement. Journal of Marketing Research, 27(3), pp. 361-367.
Maloney, J. C. (1963). Is advertising believability really important? Journal of Marketing, 27(4), pp. 1-8.
Mantel, S. P. & Kardes, F. R. (1999). The role of direction of comparison, attribute-based processing, and attitude-based processing in consumer preference. Journal of Consumer Research, 25(4), pp. 335-352.
Markman, A. B. & Miguel C. B. (2000). The influence of goals on value and choice. In Douglas L. Medin (ed.), The Psychology of Learning and Motivation. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, pp. 97-129.
Mitchell, A. A. (1981). The dimensions of advertising involvement. In K. Monroe (Ed.), Advances in consumer research. Ann Arbor, MI: Association for Consumer Research, pp. 25-30
Muehling, D. D. & Laczniak, R. N. (1988). Advertising’s immediate and delayed influence on brand attitude: considerations across message-involvement levels. Journal of Advertising, 17(4), pp. 23-34.
National Police Agency, Ministry of the Interior (2005). The Statistics of Death Toll Caused by Road Traffic Accident in 2004.
National Police Agency, Ministry of the Interior (2009). The Statistics of Death Toll Caused by Road Traffic Accident in 2007.
Norman, P., Boer, H., & Seydel, E. R. (2005). Protection motivation theory. In Predicting health behavior: Research and practice with social cognition models. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Olson, J. C., Rajesh K., & Aydin M. (1979). Clarifying the confusion regarding salience, importance, and determinance concepts in multi-attribute attitude research. In AMA Educators’ Conference Proceedings, Neil Beckwith, et al., eds. Chicago: American Marketing Association, pp. 286-290.
O’Cass, A. & Griffin, D. (2006). Antecedents and consequences of social issue advertising believability. Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 15(1/2), 87-104.
Pechmann, C., & Reibling, E. T. (2000). Planning an effective anti-smoking mass media campaign targeting adolescents. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 6(3), 80-94.
Petty, R. E. & J. T. Cacioppo. (1981). Attitude and persuasion: classic and contemporary approaches. Dubuque Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Co.
Plesssis, E. D. (1994). Understanding and using likability. Journal of Advertising Research, 34(5), pp. 95-95.
Richard, F. B. (1988). Perceive believability of warning label information presented in cigarette advertising. Journal of Advertising, 17(1), pp. 26-32.
Rogers, R. W. (1983). Cognitive and physiological processes in fear appeals and attitude change: a revised theory of protection motivation. In Cacioppo, J. R. & Petty, R. E. (Eds.). Social Psychology: A sourcebook, pp. 153-176. New York: Guilford Press
Rogers, R. W. (1975). A protection motivation theory of fear appeals and attitude change. Journal of Psychology. 91(1), pp. 93-114.
Rossiter, J.R., Percy, L., & Donovan, R.J. (1991). A better advertusubg planning grid. Journal of Advertising Research, 31(5), pp. 11-21.
Ruiter, R. A. C., Kok, G., Verplanken, B. & Van, E. G. (2003). Strengthening the persuasive impact of fear appeal: the role of action framing. Journal of Social Psychology, 143(3), pp. 397-400.
Rutledge, R and Stutts, J (1993). The association of helmet use with the outcome of motorcycle crash injury when controlling for crash injury severity. Journal of Accident Analysis and Prevention, 25(3), pp. 347-353.
Sacharin, K (2001) Attention! (How to interrupt, yell, whisper and touch consumers…). New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.,
Sengupta, J. & Fitzsimons, G. J. (2000). The effects of analyzing reasons for brand preferences: disruption or reinforcement? Journal of Marketing Research, 37(3), pp. 318-330.
Smit, E. G..; Van Meurs, L.; Neijens, P. C. (2006). Effects of advertising likeability: a 10-year perspective. Journal of Advertising Research, 46(1), pp. 73-83.
Stern, P. & Hammond, K. (2004). The relationship between customer loyalty and purchase incidence. Marketing Letters, 15(1), pp. 5-19.
Swinyard, W. R. (1981). The interaction between comparative advertising and copy claim variation. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(2), pp. 175-186.
Taiwan Shin Sheng Daily News (2008). Government should be responsible to the motorcycle riders’ high death rate.
Tao, S., Wells, W. D., Zhao, X. S., & Youn, S. M. (2001). Commercial liking and memory: moderating effects of product categories. Journal of Advertising Research, 41(3), pp. 7-13.
Walker, D. & Dubitsky, T. M. (1994). Why liking matters. Journal of Advertising Research, 34(3), pp. 9-18.
Warrington, P. & Shim, S. (2000). An empirical investigation of the relationship between product involvement and brand commitment. Psychology & Marketing, 17(9), pp. 761-782.
Werth, L. & Foerster, J. (2007). How regulatory focus influences consumer behaviour. European Journal of Social Psychology. 37(1). pp. 33-51.
Witte, K. & Allen, M. (2000). A meta-analysis of fear appeals: implications for effective public health campaigns. Journal of Health Education & Behavior, 27(5), pp. 591-615.
Wolburg, J. M. (2001). The ‘risky business’ of binge drinking among college students: Using risk models for PSAs and anti-drinking campaigns. Journal of Advertising, 30(4), 23-39.
World Health Organization (2006). Helmets: A Road Safety Manual for Decision-Makers and Practitioners. Geneva.
Yang, C. C. (2000). Taiwanese students’ attitudes towards and beliefs about advertising. Journal of Marketing Communication, 6(3), 71-183.
Yoo, C. J., & MacInnis, D. (2005). The brand attitude formation process of emotional and informational Ads. Journal of Business Research, 58(10), pp. 1397-1406.
Zaichkowsky, J. L. (1985). Measuring the involvement construct. Journal of Consumer Research. 12(3), pp. 341-352.
Zeithaml, V. A. (1988). Consumer perceptions of price, quality, and value: a means-end model and synthesis of evidence. Journal of Marketing, 52(3), pp. 2-22.