NCJ Number
82209
Date Published
1982
Length
38 pages
Annotation
This report examines media crime prevention messages, focusing on the McGruff campaign, and presents guidelines for message formulation.
Abstract
The McGruff crime prevention campaign was based on demands that audiences take specifically suggested crime prevention actions on their own. Message recipients were urged to engage in some 60 different behaviors that ostensibly either reduce or eliminate the threat of crime victimization. A total of 30 percent of a national sample contacted claimed they either had seen or heard the McGruff public service announcements. Awareness of the ads was most evident among younger persons, males, and persons occupying middle or lower socioeconomic statuses. Victimization experience, perceived vulnerability, belief in the ability to protect self and property, belief in the efficacy of individual action-taking to reduce or eliminate the threat of victimization, information presently held concerning crime prevention, perceived need for and interest in crime prevention information, and media usage habits are other data required as bases for selecting media targets. Until prior control over message placement can be accomplished, target control must rely almost exclusively on the message's themes and appeals. Other considerations involve controlling audience fear, controlling source credibility, and controlling risk perception. Guidelines for formulating risk benefit messages are given; consumer rights are delineated; and the objectives, development, and funding of the McGruff campaign are discussed. A McGruff campaign art sample is appended.