www.ccsenet.org/ass Asian Social Science Vol. 8, No. 5; April 2012 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 65 The Dynamics of Message Processing among the Young Generation: The Case of 1Malaysia Mohd Yusof Hj. Abdullah School of Media and Communication Studies Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (The National University of Malaysia) 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia Tel: 60-19-380-1533 E-mail: myusof@ukm.my Ali Salman School of Media and Communication Studies Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (The National University of Malaysia) 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia Tel: 60-19-612-6568 E-mail: asalmanphd@gmail.com Received: February 26, 2012 Accepted: March 13, 2012 Published: April 16, 2012 doi:10.5539/ass.v8n5p65 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ass.v8n5p65 This project is funded by the Ministry of Science,Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) Malaysia under the research code: UKM-SK-05-FRGS0067-2010 Abstract Communication campaign is a social apparatus to educate the public. It aims to inform, persuade and/or motivate attitude change among the target audiences on issues, problems or innovations. The concept of 1Malaysia is one of the recent innovations in the form of ideas introduced by the current government under the leadership of Dato’ Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak. Numerous forms of messages on 1Malaysia were formulated and disseminated over the media. This paper discusses message processing by the audiences on the concept of 1Malaysia. The discussion is based on a survey among 200 young generation studying in the Klang Valley areas. The study gauges their opinions on the meaning of 1Malaysia, their understanding, and probable actions taken after being exposed to the messages. The findings indicate that the exposure to the messages of 1Malaysia is rather high, indicating that they either read, see or listen to the messages in various media. The respondemts have somehow embraced the spirit of 1Malaysia in their inter ethnic relation and interaction. However, more programs or events are recommended to promote the values in 1Malaysia among the young generation. Keywords: Message processing, Young generation, Communication campaign, 1Malaysia 1. Introduction Message effectiveness in a campaign depends on information process factors which are found in every individual. The factors consist of motivation and the ability to process message. Personal motivation will increase base on the information in the campaign that convey similar information connected to the personality of the audience (Chun-Tuan Chang and Yu-Kang Lee, 2009). It means when audience feel that the campaign can profit them or is related to their interest, it will be easily accepted and practised. Apart from motivation, cognition aspect also takes into account the achievements from a particular campaign. Target audience will possibly be processing message only at the first level namely exposure to the message or to second stage, exposure and understanding the message but do not take action. They could also actively process message, namely awareness, understanding, and use of the message or take action base on it. If target audience process message actively, the communication campaign will leave the effect intended by the campaign.When a particular reform is introduced into a social system, the objective would be to ensure widespread acceptance