How liberals and conservatives respond to feasibility and desirability appeals in anti-tobacco campaigns

ABSTRACT

Using two experiments, this study aims to investigate how politically liberal or conservative message recipients respond to anti-tobacco appeals. The results show that in Study 1, respondents were exposed to a message about price policy. In Study 2, they were exposed to a message about a warning policy. In both studies, liberal participants more favorably evaluated anti-tobacco messages emphasizing feasibility rather than desirability, whereas conservative participants more positively evaluated messages emphasizing desirability rather than feasibility. Implications for policymakers and marketers are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Anti-smoking campaign
• construal level theory
• political ideology
• tobacco control policy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Younghwa Lee (PhD, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies) is a research fellow of media and communication research institute at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Korea. She has teaching and research interests in advertising, public campaign, and consumer behavior.

Sukki Yoon (PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) is a professor of marketing at Bryant University, USA. Some of his studies focus on the fundamental questions of consumer behavior: why and how people react to marketing communications as they do in various circumstances. Other studies address issues that enhance marketing managerial decisions.

Seungwoo Chun (PhD, University of Nebraska-Lincoln) is a professor of marketing at Dongguk University, Korea. He has teaching consumer behavior and marketing research and research interests in cross-cultural advertising, consumer behavior and marketing communication.

Chanmo Park (PhD candidate, Harvard University) is a PhD candidate in the psychology department at Harvard University. He also serves as the CEO at the Ellen Langer Institute Asia and the LMI in Korea. His research focuses on understanding the body–mind relationship.

Kacy Kim (PhD, University of Texas at Austin) is an assistant professor of marketing at Bryant University. She has focused on examining econometric models using time series analysis to measure the effectiveness of marketing communication on products over a period of time. Her recent research interest and professional work experience include digital marketing analytics.

Notes

1 The results of a median split showed the same pattern: a two-way ANOVA (political ideology X message appeals) had a significant interaction effect on attitudes toward advertising in the expected direction (F(1, 161) = 8.210; p < .01).

2 The results of the median-split showed the same pattern: a two-way ANOVA (political ideology X message appeals) had a significant interaction effect on perceived advertising effectiveness on quitting smoking in the expected direction (F(1, 161) = 6.432; p < .05).

3 The results of the median-split showed the same pattern: a two-way ANOVA (political ideology X message appeals) had a significant interaction effect on attitudes toward advertising in the expected direction (F(1, 162) = 7.805; p < .01).

4 The results of the median-split showed the same pattern: a two-way ANOVA (political ideology X message appeals) had a significant interaction effect on perceived advertising effectiveness on quitting smoking in the expected direction (F(1, 162) = 8.315; p < .01).