The Role of Health Advertisements on Social Media Networks in the Adoption of Healthy Behavior among Jordanian University Students: A Field Study

Abstract

This study identifies the role of health advertisements on social media networks on the adoption of healthy behavior among Jordanian university students. This research, being classified as a descriptive study, has relied on the theory of the spread of innovations and applied an online/electronic questionnaire to a sample that consisted of (400) respondents in accordance with the quota sample. The study found that (91%) of the research sample follow health advertisements through social media platforms for many reasons, such as that they “can save a health advertisement in the archive and refer to it whenever needed”, with Facebook and YouTube being the social media outlets that are most followed by the participants. Furthermore, the main effect of those health advertisements on the level of respondents’ awareness is in “maintaining a healthy personal hygiene”, while the most important participants' observation of this type of ads on social media networks revolves around the fact that “whenever health advertisements have pictures and videos, that would attract the research sample more”. Meanwhile, the most significant effect of health advertisements on social media networks on the adoption of healthy behavior among the respondents is in “guiding me to pay attention to personal hygiene and take a bath everyday”.