Pre-testing as an Integral Part of a Public Communications Campaign: A case study of the campaign against speeding in Ghana

Abstract

The objective of this study was to show how critical pre-testing is, in any public communications campaign by looking at the campaign against speeding undertaken by the National Road Safety Commission. It entailed the use of the qualitative approach for conducting individual in-depth interviews among 130 respondents. The media used for the pretesting were TV, radio, posters and a brochure, covering the three main concepts: speed Limiter/Speed Sticker, Guardian Angel and Speeding Kills. As far as comprehension was concerned the Speed Limiter concept was clear mainly for the TV and poster. The Guardian Angel was however not very clear to respondents. In terms of appeal, the commercials were regarded as appropriate and respondents did not have any dislikes, neither were there any offensive aspects. They indicated that they would be motivated to change their behaviour by the commercials. The respondents also found the music and concepts appropriate and culturally suitable. A number of suggestions were made, like the need for the people in the Guardian Angel concept to wear seat belts, improve on the sound, make the posters more explanatory and show other causes of accidents. Utilising benefits from other pre-testing activities worldwide, a case is made for incorporating pretesting in all public communication campaigns.