On being responsible: Ethical issues in appeals to personal responsibilityin health campaigns

Appeals to personal responsibility are highly prevalent in health communica tion campaigns, but their use entails both moral and strategic consideratio ns. This article provides an overview of the notion of personal responsibil ity as a persuasive appeal in public health communication campaigns and an analysis of concomitant ethical implications. Whereas the issue of responsi bility often is acknowledged by practitioners and scholars as a perennial c hallenge in health interventions, conceptual tools for the identification o f its subtle manifestations are not readily available. This article outline s a framework that contextualizes potentially paradoxical consequences of c ampaign appeals to personal responsibility that can be explained by the med ieval allegory of the "Tragedy of the Commons," psychological attribution t heory, and public health concerns regarding "blaming the victim." Practice- oriented questions are introduced to help identify ethical issues in person al responsibility appeals that can be utilized in the design and implementa tion of health campaigns.