Ethical Health Communication: A Content Analysis of Predominant Frames and Primes in Public Service Announcements

Health communication is increasingly being held to higher moral standards. No longer do noble goals outweigh ethical concerns. This content analysis examines ethical frames and primes in health public service announcements (PSAs) so we may begin to address the most prevalent of the problematic ones and find more ethical alternatives. In this study, 80% of the PSAs conveyed messages that individuals were to blame. Negative emotion, such as fear, was the second most frequent frame. Stereotypes of women were the primes most prevalent in the visuals, and visual and verbal messages were vastly different for some of these primes. The ethical implications of each are addressed.