Global warming campaigns: framing analysis and campaign effectiveness

Thailand has responded to global warming with strategies of mitigation and adaptation. Green campaigns targeting citizens have not significantly improved environmental behaviours, particularly in the Bangkok metropolitan area. This research identifies and analyses the frames held by global warming experts in Thailand and those used in the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) environmental campaign as well as frames reported by target audience members before and after the campaign. All frames were compared to identify campaign effectiveness based on their consistency. The use of framing theory in this way to evaluate campaigns is innovative and bridges between different traditions as well as research methods in the field of communication studies. In-depth interviews with experts showed the dominant frames to be Social Frames. The most common frames found in campaign materials were Financial Frames. A survey of target audience members demonstrated the relationship between frames held before and after the campaign and that the Scientific Frame was the one mostly reported. An integrative analysis showed an inconsistency of frames in three main elements in this campaign communication which contributed to its ineffectiveness in encouraging citizens' change of behaviour. It is argued that Global Warming Campaigns in Bangkok that combine existing traditional frames (e.g. Buddhism and King's Philosophy of Sufficient Economy Frames) and perceived global warming frames (e.g. Scientific Frames) can engender better responses in dealing with this issue particularly among residents in Bangkok. The approach to framing analysis in this project can be applied to the study of other kinds of campaign communication in the wider Thai context.