Framing Well: How Advertisement Framing Impacts Young Adult Female Intention to Engage in Exercise Behaviors

The overall health benefits of physical activity are well known, yet females are less physically active than men overall. To examine how to increase female physical activity levels, the effect of four advertisement frames (communal, agentic, appearance, and well-being) on young adult females' intention to attend group exercise classes were investigated. 177 undergraduate females reported their level of intention to attend group exercise for each of the differently framed advertisements. A linear mixed model with random effect for subject analysis found a well-being frame generated significantly more positive intention scores while an appearance frame resulted in significantly more negative intention scores to engage in group exercise. The results indicate the importance of using well-being frames and avoiding appearance-based frames in communication designed to increase young adult female intention to engage in physical activity.