Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This study investigates the dual function of in-flight safety videos as both a safety management tool and destination marketing material. Based on the information processing model and affect transfer model, a mixed-methods design was adopted. The content of safety videos from 55 major national flag carriers was analyzed. A between-subjects experiment was conducted to measure the effects of key media components on safety management and destination marketing outcomes. The results reveal varying effects. While it does not influence perceived safety or compliance intentions, the inclusion of destination content, particularly when presented through live-shot imagery, positively impacts destination image and increases visit intentions. However, this comes at the cost of reduced memory recall among viewers. These findings confirm the dual function of modern in-flight safety videos and reveal a trade-off between aesthetic appeal and functional effectiveness. We conclude with implications for balancing different objectives when destinations are used as an appeal for safety videos.

Keywords

in-flight safety videos safety management destination marketing safety communication content analysis

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ajzen

Fishbein

(1973). Attitudinal and normative variables as predictors of specific behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 27(1), 41.

Al Saed

Upadhya

Abu Saleh

. (2020). Role of airline promotion activities in destination branding: Case of Dubai vis-à-vis Emirates Airline. European Research on Management and Business Economics, 26(3), 121–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iedeen.2020.07.001

Alamäki

Pesonen

Dirin

(2019). Triggering effects of mobile video marketing in nature tourism: Media richness perspective. Information Processing & Management, 56(3), 756–770.

Alamäki

Rhee

Suomala

Kaski

Kauttonen

(2023). Creating effective visuals for destination marketing videos: Scenery vs people. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 29(1), 141–157. https://doi.org/10.1177/13567667221081147

Anderson

R. B.

(2000). Vicarious and persuasive influences on efficacy expectations and intentions to perform breast self-examination. Public Relations Review, 26(1), 97–114. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0363-8111(00)00033-3

Ang

S. H.

Lee

Y. H.

Leong

S. M.

(2007). The ad creativity cube: Conceptualization and initial validation. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 35, 220–232.

Atalık

Ö.

Özel

. (2007). Passenger expectations and factors affecting their choice of low cost carriers: Pegasus Airlines. Proceedings of the Northeast Business & Economics Association. New Britain, CT. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=1936203X&AN=27535438&h=VRYVyT%2BQdsCUBsqzxBizxgDdxoGD%2FNZdrckNeX69gMvmuR8CWJnZSeLNkul8YuEJ8YYJsJ004hv%2FSHxc2ANUFw%3D%3D&crl=c

Baack

D. W.

Wilson

R. T.

Till

B. D.

(2008). Creativity and memory effects: Recall, recognition, and an exploration of nontraditional media. Journal of Advertising, 37(4), 85–94. https://doi.org/10.2753/JOA0091-3367370407

Baloglu

McCleary

K. W.

(1999). A model of destination image formation. Annals of Tourism Research, 26(4), 868–897.

10.

Beerli

Martín

J. D.

(2004). Factors influencing destination image. Annals of Tourism Research, 31(3), 657–681. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2004.01.010

11.

Borah

Xiao

(2018). The importance of “likes”: The interplay of message framing, source, and social endorsement on credibility perceptions of health information on Facebook. Journal of Health Communication, 23(4), 399–411.

12.

Buttussi

Chittaro

(2020). Humor and fear appeals in animated pedagogical agents: An evaluation in aviation safety education. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, 13(1), 63–76. https://doi.org/10.1109/TLT.2019.2902401

13.

Chaiken

Ledgerwood

(2012). A theory of heuristic and systematic information processing. In Van Lange

P. A. M.

Kruglanski

A. W.

Higgins

E. T.

(Eds.), Handbook of theories of social psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 246–266). Sage Publications Ltd.

14.

Chang

M.-C.

C.-C.

(2015). The effect of message framing on pro-environmental behavior intentions: An information processing view. British Food Journal, 117(1), 339–357. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-09-2013-0247

15.

Chang

Y.-H.

Liao

M.-Y.

(2009). The effect of aviation safety education on passenger cabin safety awareness. Safety Science, 47(10), 1337–1345.

16.

Chaudhuri

Holbrook

M. B.

(2001). The chain of effects from brand trust and brand affect to brand performance: The role of brand loyalty. Journal of Marketing, 65(2), 81–93. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.65.2.81.18255

17.

Chittaro

(2017). A comparative study of aviation safety briefing media: Card, video, and video with interactive controls. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, 85, 415–428. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2017.10.007

18.

Creswell

J. W.

(2021). A concise introduction to mixed methods research. SAGE Publications, Inc. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=2s0IEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT8&dq=Creswell,+J.+W.+(2021).+A+concise+introduction+to+mixed+methods+research.+SAGE+publications.&ots=90_8RTIXSa&sig=OhJMvqMMzJllzMqZHYwMDjUBSTg

19.

Creswell

J. W.

Creswell

J. D.

(2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.

20.

Crompton

J. L.

(1979). An assessment of the image of mexico as a vacation destination and the influence of geographical location upon that image. Journal of Travel Research, 17(4), 18–23. https://doi.org/10.1177/004728757901700404

21.

Damos

D. L.

Boyett

K. S.

Gibbs

(2013). Safety versus passenger service: The flight attendants’ dilemma. The International Journal of Aviation Psychology, 23(2), 91–112. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508414.2013.772822

22.

Ellen

P. S.

(1994). Do we know what we need to know? Objective and subjective knowledge effects on pro-ecological behaviors. Journal of Business Research, 30(1), 43–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/0148-2963(94)90067-1

23.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). (1999). AC 121-24B: Passenger safety information briefing and briefing cards. https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/2022-11/AC121-24B.pdf

24.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). (2014). Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) 14 CFR Section 135.117. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2010-title14-vol3/pdf/CFR-2010-title14-vol3-sec135-117.pdf

25.

Ferguson

J. L.

Mohan

(2020). Use of celebrity and non-celebrity persons in B2B advertisements: Effects on attention, recall, and hedonic and utilitarian attitudes. Industrial Marketing Management, 89, 594–604. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2019.02.003

26.

Fleischer

Tchetchik

Toledo

(2012). The impact of fear of flying on travelers’ flight choice: Choice model with latent variables. Journal of Travel Research, 51(5), 653–663. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287512437856

27.

Flight Safety Digest. (2000). Passenger-mortality risk estimates provide perspectives about airline safety. https://www.library.northwestern.edu/find-borrow-request/requests-interlibrary-loan/lending-institutions.html

28.

Forgas

J. P.

(2017). Chapter 3—Mood effects on cognition: Affective influences on the content and process of information processing and behavior. In Jeon

(Ed.), Emotions and affect in human factors and human-computer interaction (pp. 89–122). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-801851-4.00003-3

29.

Gilbert

Wong

R. K. C.

(2003). Passenger expectations and airline services: A Hong Kong based study. Tourism Management, 24(5), 519–532. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0261-5177(03)00002-5

30.

Guerin

R. J.

Toland

M. D.

(2020). An application of a modified theory of planned behavior model to investigate adolescents’ job safety knowledge, norms, attitude and intention to enact workplace safety and health skills. Journal of Safety Research, 72, 189–198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2019.12.002

31.

Hosany

Ekinci

Uysal

(2007). Destination image and destination personality. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, 1(1), 62–81.

32.

Huertas

Míguez-González

M. I.

Lozano-Monterrubio

(2017). YouTube usage by Spanish tourist destinations as a tool to communicate their identities and brands. Journal of Brand Management, 24(3), 211–229. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41262-017-0031-y

33.

Kim

Lee

(2022). The effects of the in-flight safety information characteristics on the safety behavioral intention of airline passengers. Sustainability, 14(5), Article 5. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14052819

34.

Krippendorff

(2011). Computing Krippendorff’s alpha-reliability. Available at https://www.asc.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/2021-03/Computing%20Krippendorff%27s%20Alpha-Reliability.pdf

35.

Lee

C.-C.

Wang

S. W.

Hsu

M. K.

Jan

S.-M.

(2018). Air passenger’s perception toward pre-flight safety briefing videos: Does it matter? Journal of Air Transport Management, 72, 20–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2018.07.004

36.

Leung

Law

Van Hoof

Buhalis

(2013). Social media in tourism and hospitality: A literature review. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 30(1–2), 3–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2013.750919

37.

Light

(2021). More than just safety: A critical history of in-flight safety briefing videos. In Bonelli

Leotta

(Eds.), Audiovisual tourism promotion (pp. 37–62). Springer Nature Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6410-6_3

38.

MacInnis

D. J.

Jaworski

B. J.

(1989). Information processing from advertisements: Toward an integrative framework. Journal of Marketing, 53(4), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224298905300401

39.

Mak

A. H.

(2017). Online destination image: Comparing national tourism organisation’s and tourists’ perspectives. Tourism Management, 60, 280–297.

40.

McGuire

W. J.

(1968). Personality and attitude change: An information processing theory. Academic Press. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=doJGBQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA171&dq=Personality+and+Attitude+Change:+An+Information+Processing+Theory&ots=OhMk7u3cA4&sig=kx6N4dy12dC0onroCeEV0ajFlP8

41.

Meyers-Levy

Malaviya

(1999). Consumers’ processing of persuasive advertisements: An integrative framework of persuasion theories. Journal of Marketing, 63(4_suppl1), 45–60. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429990634s106

42.

Molesworth

B. R. C.

(2014). Examining the effectiveness of pre-flight cabin safety announcements in commercial aviation. The International Journal of Aviation Psychology, 24, 300–314.

43.

Molesworth

B. R. C.

Seneviratne

Burgess

(2015). Selling safety: The use of celebrities in improving awareness of safety in commercial aviation. Ergonomics, 59, 989–994. https://doi.org/10.1080/00140139.2015.1109712

44.

Molesworth

B. R.

Pagan

Wilcock

(2018). Preflight safety briefings: understanding the relationship between mode of delivery, recall of key safety messages, and mood. The International Journal of Aerospace Psychology, 28(1-2), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/24721840.2018.1479639

45.

Molesworth

B. R. C.

Seneviratne

Wilcock

(2019). Communicating safety information: Investigating how distractors affect the recall of key safety information in pre-flight safety briefings. Applied Ergonomics, 81, 102899.

46.

Mulligan

N. W.

(1998). The role of attention during encoding in implicit and explicit memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 24(1), 27.

47.

Myrick

J. G.

(2017). Celebrity-based appeals in health and risk messaging. In Myrick

J. G.

(ed.), Oxford research encyclopedia of communication. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.659

48.

New Zealand Herald. (2022, May 4). Opinion: Air NZ’s new safety video one Kiwis can be proud of. NZ Herald. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/air-new-zealand-launches-new-safety-video-inspired-by-te-ao-maori-and-tiaki-promise/2YM3752AW4H23MO3OSDBT7HKNE/

49.

Pachucki

Grohs

Scholl-Grissemann

(2022). No story without a storyteller: The impact of the storyteller as a narrative element in online destination marketing. Journal of Travel Research, 61(8), 1703–1718. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875211046052

50.

Pan

Santos

Kim

(2017). Promoting tourism, projecting power: The role of television commercials. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 34(2), 192–208. https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2016.1156610

51.

Pan

Tsai

Lee

(2011). Framing New Zealand: Understanding tourism TV commercials. Tourism Management, 32(3), 596–603.

52.

Parker

(2006). Public Attitudes, perceptions and behaviours towards cabin safety communications (Research and analysis report). Australian Transport Safety Bureau. https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/2006/b20040238

53.

Qantas. (2020, February). Centenary safety video. https://www.qantas.com/us/en/about-us/our-company/our-history/centenary/inflight-safety-video.html

54.

Rice

Winter

S. R.

Mehta

Ragbir

N. K.

(2019). What factors predict the type of person who is willing to fly in an autonomous commercial airplane? Journal of Air Transport Management, 75, 131–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2018.12.008

55.

Riffe

Lacy

Watson

B. R.

Fico

(2019). Analyzing media messages: Using quantitative content analysis in research (4th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429464287

56.

Rosengren

Dahlén

(2015). Exploring advertising equity: how a brand’s past advertising may affect consumer willingness to approach its future ads. Journal of Advertising, 44(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2014.961666

57.

Rosengren

Eisend

Koslow

Dahlen

(2020). A meta-analysis of when and how advertising creativity works. Journal of Marketing, 84(6), 39–56. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022242920929288

58.

Rosseel

(2012). Lavaan: An R Package for structural equation modeling. Journal of Statistical Software, 48, 1–36. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v048.i02

59.

San Martín

Rodríguez del Bosque

I. A

. (2008). Exploring the cognitive–affective nature of destination image and the role of psychological factors in its formation. Tourism Management, 29(2), 263–277. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2007.03.012

60.

Sarılgan

A. E.

Şahap

Bakır

Süleç

(2022). The impact of advertising creativity on purchase intention in the airline industry: A stimulus-organism-response (SOR) perspective. European Journal of Tourism Research, 30, 3014–3014.

61.

Savadori

Tokarchuk

Pizzato

Pighin

(2023). The impact of infection risk communication format on tourism travel intentions during COVID-19. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 54, 65–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2022.12.004

62.

Seneviratne

Molesworth

B. R. C.

(2015). Employing humour and celebrities to manipulate passengers’ attention to pre-flight safety briefing videos in commercial aviation. Safety Science, 75, 130–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2015.01.006

63.

Shani

Chen

P.-J.

Wang

Hua

(2010). Testing the impact of a promotional video on destination image change: Application of China as a tourism destination. International Journal of Tourism Research, 12(2), 116–133. https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.738

64.

Shiwakoti

Jiang

Nguyen

A. D.

(2022). Passengers’ perception of safety and its relationship with demographics, service quality, satisfaction and loyalty in airlines sector: A case study of Vietnam to Australia route. Transport Policy, 124, 194–202.

65.

Singapore Airlines. (2017, August 8). Singapore airlines unveils new in-flight safety video. https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/sg/media-centre/press-release/article/?q=en_UK/2017/July-September/jr1317-170808

66.

Smith

E. R.

DeCoster

(2000). Dual-process models in social and cognitive psychology: Conceptual integration and links to underlying memory systems. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 4(2), 108–131. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327957PSPR0402_01

67.

Smith

R. E.

Chen

Yang

(2008). The impact of advertising creativity on the hierarchy of effects. Journal of Advertising, 37(4), 47–62. https://doi.org/10.2753/JOA0091-3367370404

68.

Stepchenkova

Morrison

A. M.

(2008). Russia’s destination image among American pleasure travelers: Revisiting Echtner and Ritchie. Tourism Management, 29(3), 548–560. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2007.06.003

69.

Stepchenkova

Zhan

(2013). Visual destination images of Peru: Comparative content analysis of DMO and user-generated photography. Tourism Management, 36, 590–601. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2012.08.006

70.

Tehrani

Molesworth

B. R. C.

(2015). Pre-flight safety briefings, mood and information retention. Applied Ergonomics, 51, 377–382. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2015.06.015

71.

Till

B. D.

Baack

D. W.

(2005). Recall and persuasion: Does creative advertising matter? Journal of Advertising, 34(3), 47–57. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2005.10639201

72.

Tussyadiah

I. P.

Fesenmaier

D. R.

(2009). Mediating tourist experiences: Access to places via shared videos. Annals of Tourism Research, 36(1), 24–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2008.10.001

73.

United States National Transportation Safety. (2010). Loss of thrust in both engines after encountering a flock of birds and subsequent ditching on the Hudson River, US Airways Flight 1549, Airbus A320-214, N106US, Weehawken, New Jersey, January 15, 2009. National Transportation Safety Board.

74.

Wang

Lopez

(2020). Does communicating safety matter? Annals of Tourism Research, 80, 102805. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2019.102805

75.

Wikipedia. (2024). Flag carrier. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flag_carrier&oldid=1193717795

76.

Winter

S. R.

Pan

J. Y.

Truong

Lamb

T. L.

(2021). Willingness to watch the pre-flight safety briefing: A structural model. The International Journal of Aerospace Psychology, 31(3), 230–251. https://doi.org/10.1080/24721840.2021.1883432

77.

Xie

Fan

Zhang

Huang

(Sam). (2023). The effect of risk message framing on tourist safety behavior: A heuristic-systematic model perspective. Tourism Management Perspectives, 48, 101173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2023.101173

78.

Young

(1984). Visibility achieved by outdoor advertising. Journal of Advertising Research, 24(4), 19–21.

79.

Zach

(2012). Partners and innovation in American destination marketing organizations. Journal of Travel Research, 51(4), 412–425. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287511426340

80.

Zhang

Xie

Morrison

A. M.

(2021). The effect of corporate social responsibility on hotel employee safety behavior during COVID-19: The moderation of belief restoration and negative emotions. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 46, 233–243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2020.12.011

81.

Zhang

Chen

(2019). Discovering the tourists’ behaviors and perceptions in a tourism destination by analyzing photos’ visual content with a computer deep learning model: The case of Beijing. Tourism Management, 75, 595–608.

82.

Zhu

Cheng

Wang

(Wendy). (2024). Viewer in-consumption engagement in pro-environmental tourism videos: A video analytics approach. Journal of Travel Research, 64, 716–735. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875231219634

Examining the Dual Function of In-Flight Safety Videos in Safety Management and Destination Marketing

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References