Global warming campaigns in Bangkok : framing analysis and campaign effectiveness

Abstract

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 will identify and analyse 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 will be compared to identify campaign effectiveness based on their consistency. The use of framing theory in this way to evaluate campaigns will be an innovation in bridging the different traditions as well as research methods in the field of communication studies. From in-depth interview with the expert, it turned out that the dominant frames are Social Frames. The most common frames found in campaign materials are Financial Frames. Finally, the survey of target audience members demonstrates the relationship between frames held before and after the campaign and that the Scientific Frame are mostly reported. From the integrative analysis, the inconsistency of frames emerged in three main elements in this campaign communication can be a part of ineffectiveness of BMA campaign in encouraging citizens’ change of action. Therefore, combining existing traditional frames (e.g. Buddhism and King’s Philosophy of Sufficient Economy Frames) and perceived global warming frames (e.g. Scientific Frames) can be used to create better response in dealing with this issue particularly among residents in Bangkok. Theoretically, framing analysis can be applied to study campaign communication and to be extended to the Thai context. The results can also be used to create the effective global warming campaigns for Thailand in the future.