Public Communication Campaigns

In this new, fully revised and expanded Fourth Edition, Rice and Atkin provide readers with a comprehensive, up-to-date look into the field of public communication campaigns.

The subject of campaigns has become increasingly high profile in the academic world in the decade since the last edition, and hundreds of new studies on campaign theory and practice have been published since 2001. Moreover, the rise of new media has expanded the array of strategies for designing and implementing campaigns.

Largely rewritten to reflect the latest theories and research, this text continues in the tradition of ongoing improvement and expansion into new areas, including sun protection, organ donation, human rights, social norms, corporate social responsibility, use of condoms, ocean sustainability,fear messages, and digital games. Classic chapters are updated, on topics such as campaign history, theoretical foundations, formative evaluation, systems approaches, input-output persuasion matrix, design and evaluation, meta-analysis, and sense-making methodology.

Ronald E. Rice (Ph.D. & M.A., Stanford University; B.A., Columbia University) is both the Arthur N. Rupe Chair in the Social Effects of Mass Communication in the Department of Communication and Co-Director of the Carsey-Wolf Center at UC, Santa Barbara. He has been elected divisional officer in the International Communication Association and the Academy of Management, elected President and Fellow of the ICA, awarded a Fulbright Award to Finland, appointed as Wee Kim Wee Professor and then University Professor of the School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Montreal. He has co-authored or co-edited ten books, including The New Media: Communication, Research and Technology (1984), and The Internet and Health Communication (2001), both also with SAGE. He is widely published in communication science, public communication campaigns, computer-mediated communication systems, methodology, organizational and management theory, information systems, information science and bibliometrics, and social networks.

Charles K. Atkin (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin; B.A., Michigan State University) is University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Communication at Michigan State, where he has served as Chair for 15 years. He teaches and conducts research on mass communication campaigns, particularly in the health domain. Based on sustained accomplishments in applied research on health campaigns, he received the 2006 Decade of Behavior Award from the American Psychological Association and a consortium of 54 social science organizations as well as the 2008 career award as “Outstanding Health Communication Scholar” from National Communication Association and the International Communication Association Health Communication Divisions. In 2010, he was selected for the Phillips Award for Distinguished Applied Communication Research by the National Communication Association. He has been a Fellow of the International Communication Association since 1999. He has published almost 100 journal articles and ten books, including Mass Communication and Public Health (1990, SAGE) and Public Communication Campaigns (1989, 2001, SAGE). His federal grant research has been extensive, with recent major projects on breast cancer and binge drinking.