Effectiveness of Public Advertisements to Influence Perceptions Towards Public Transport Among Young Adults in Singapore

Singapore, with a strong motive to go green, is focused on ways to improve social perceptions towards the use of public transport (PT) in order to become a “car light” community. Thus, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) is encouraging the general public to use PT. This research paper aims to explore the effectiveness of public information advertisements by the LTA to influence perceptions of young adults towards the use of public transport. The LTA is encouraging the general public to use PT by introducing advertisements near bus stops and train stations that highlight initiatives taken to create more park connectors, cycling paths, and covered walkways to make use of PT more convenient to access. This helps to promote the use of pedestrian pathways and the convenience of PT by showing the ease of MRT and bus connectivity. It is noteworthy that the young adults between 18 and 35 years are the most frequent user of PT and trendsetters in Singapore. Thus, this target segment was selected for the study. The primary aim of this study was to use the foundations of social marketing theories to explore the reach of LTA’s advertisements. Three theories on community readiness model, social cognitive theory, and protection motivation theory provide the framework to analyse the current LTA adverts. A subsequent survey assessed the readiness stage of the target population and to identify ways to make the message more relevant. The paper concludes highlighting the ineffectiveness of the advert to reach targeted audience and proposes a set of recommendations and actions to enhance communication reach and to improve outcomes of LTA’s social marketing efforts.