Selling safety: the use of celebrities in improving awareness of safety in commercial aviation

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the influential power of a celebrity to convey key safety messages in commercial aviation using a pre-flight safety briefing video. In addition, the present research sought to examine the effectiveness of subtitles in aiding the recall of these important messages as well as how in-cabin aircraft noise affects recall of this information. A total of 101 participants were randomly divided into four groups (no noise without subtitles, no noise with subtitles, noise without subtitles and noise with subtitles) and following exposure to a pre-recorded pre-flight safety briefing video were tested for recall of key safety messages within that video. Participants who recognised and recalled the name of the celebrity in the safety briefing video recalled significantly more of the messages than participants who did not recognise the celebrity. Subtitles were also found to be effective, however, only in the presence of representative in-cabin aircraft noise.

Practitioner Summary: Passenger attention to pre-flight safety briefings on commercial aircraft is poor. Utilising the celebrity status of a famous person may overcome this problem. Results suggest that celebrities do increase the recall of safety-related information.

Keywords:

• Safety briefing
• aviation
• cabin safety
• celebrity
• noise
• subtitles

Acknowledgements

The present research was designed in response to a question proposed by members of the Asia Pacific Cabin Safety Working Group (APCSWG) who expressed concern that more and more passengers are not attending to the pre-flight safety briefings. The APCSWG is a voluntary group of professional flight attendants and other personnel with a keen interest in improving aviation safety, and in particular cabin safety. Their dedication to this quest is unsurpassed and should not go unmentioned. More information about this group can be found on their website (http://www.asasi.org/apcswg/newindex.html). The author would also like to thank the participants who volunteered their time to complete this research, without them, improvements in safety would be more difficult.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.