Experimental examination of the effects of televised motor vehicle commercials on risk-positive attitudes, emotions and risky driving inclinations

•Effect of a risky driving motor vehicle commercial, a non-risky driving motor vehicle commercial and a control non-motor vehicle commercial were compared within an experimental design.•No main or interaction effects were found for the Implicit Attitude Test.•For the Driver Thrill Seeking Scale a main effect of males displaying higher risk-positive emotions.•Males showed riskier driving inclinations than females on the Vienna Risk-Taking Test – Traffic.

PurposeThis 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.MethodParticipants 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.ResultsANOVA 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.DiscussionDespite 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.