Experimental examination of the effects of televised motor vehicle commercials on risk-positive attitudes, emotions and risky driving inclinations Evelyn Vingilis a, *, James E.W. Roseborough b , David L. Wiesenthal b , Larissa Vingilis-Jaremko e , Valentina Nuzzo b , Peter Fischer c , Robert E. Mann d a Population and Community Health Unit, Department of Family Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario, 2710 Dr. Don Rix Clinical Skills Building, London, ON N6A 5C1, Canada b Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada c Department of Social Labour, Institute for Experimental Psychology, University of Regensburg, Germany d Public Health and Regulatory Policy Section, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada e Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 25 September 2014 Received in revised form 7 November 2014 Accepted 10 November 2014 Available online xxx Keywords: Motor vehicle advertising Experimental design Implicit Attitude Test Driver Thrill Seeking Scale Vienna Risk-Taking Test – Traffic A B S T R A C T Purpose: This study examined the short-term effects of risky driving motor vehicle television commercials on risk-positive attitudes, emotions and risky driving inclinations in video-simulated critical road traffic situations among males and females, within an experimental design. Method: Participants were randomly assigned to one of three televised commercial advertising conditions embedded in a television show: a risky driving motor vehicle commercial condition, a non- risky driving motor vehicle commercial condition and a control non-motor vehicle commercial condition. Participants subsequently completed the Implicit Attitude Test (IAT) to measure risk-positive attitudes, Driver Thrill Seeking Scale (DTSS) to measure risk-positive emotions and the Vienna Risk- Taking Test – Traffic (WRBTV) to measure risky driving inclinations. Results: ANOVA analyses indicated that type of commercial participants watched did not affect their performance on the IAT, DTSS or WRBTV. However, a main effect of heightened risk-positive emotions and risky driving inclinations was found for males. Discussion: Despite public and governmental concern that risky driving motor vehicle commercials may increase the likelihood that people exposed to these commercials engage in risky driving, this experimental study found no immediate effect of brief exposure to a risky driving motor vehicle commercial on risk-positive attitudes, emotions or risky driving inclinations. Subsequent research should examine the effects of cumulative exposure to risky driving motor vehicle television commercials and print advertisements. ã 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Risk-glorifying content is a common staple of electronic media (Fischer et al., 2011a). Motor vehicle advertisements are no exception. Shin et al. (2005) identified the prevalence and type of risky driving that were portrayed in Canadian and American televised motor vehicle commercials between 1998 and 2002. They found that 45% of reviewed commercials contained an unsafe driving sequence as assessed by at least two of three raters. Aggressive driving accounted for 85% of such sequences. Speeding accounted for 60% of the driving violations. Where the driver of the vehicle was shown in the commercial, 81% were male. Additionally, 20% of the commercials were qualified with disclaimers indicating that the driving sequences were performed by professional drivers and should not be attempted by viewers. Subsequently Watson et al. (2010) content analysed 200 Canadian television and print advertisements in which they found that 18% of advertisements displayed risky or aggressive driving behaviours. Television commercials were substantially more likely to display these behaviours (27% for television commercials versus 10% for print advertisements). Over 80% of the risky driving advertisements involved speed and 22% of all the television commercials included * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 519 858 5063x2; fax: +1 519 661 3878. E-mail address: evingili@uwo.ca (E. Vingilis). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2014.11.008 0001-4575/ ã 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Accident Analysis and Prevention 75 (2015) 86–92 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Accident Analysis and Prevention journa l homepage: www.e lsevier.com/locate/aap