In this thesis, we examine the use of fear appeals in interventions to achieve behavioural and social change from a social marketing perspective. The strategy of fear appeals is still present in Slovenia, despite a divided expert community regarding its effectiveness. The aim of our thesis was to examine the Slovenian intervention House of Horrors. It uses an experience-based walk through a haunted house to raise awareness about different types of violence, exposing visitors to graphic displays of violent acts. Consequently, in the first part of the thesis, we gave an overview of the basic concepts, explained the process of strategic planning and tested the interventions against the social marketing criteria. We also outlined the use of fear appeals in the field. We then carried out two surveys in the thesis. First, we created a systematic literature review using the PRISMA method. Here we found that the effectiveness of fear appeals depends on several factors and message characteristics, and that the effects of fear appeals are generally short-term. In the empirical part of the thesis, we analysed the intervention House of Horrors according to socio-marketing criteria. The research was based on data collected through interviews and visual materials of the intervention. We found that the authors did not follow the strategic principles of social marketing. Despite the perceived responsibility of the creators towards the topic and addressing some ethical concerns, we remained reticent about the use of fear appeals. As a result, in the discussion and conclusion sections, we made recommendations and guidelines for future interventions with similar content.
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