Lethal versus reproductive disease appeals in preventive health advertising: the moderating effect of life history strategy

Abstract

This study uses evolutionary psychology to examine how the use of disease appeals affects unhealthy behavioural intentions among consumers with different life-history strategies (LHS). Do they invest more resources in survival (slow strategists) or more resources in reproduction (fast strategists)? The results of two experimental studies indicate that behavioural intention to drink alcohol or to smoke varies as a function of the type of appeal used and the LHS of the consumer. Slow strategists’ behavioural intention is lower when a reproductive disease appeal is used, while fast strategists’ behavioural intention is lower when a lethal disease appeal is used. The interactive effect is moderated by message framing and appears only for negatively framed messages, but not for positively framed messages. These results contribute to advertising research by providing an evolutionary explanation for the effects of disease appeals in preventive health communication and implications for consumer well-being.

Keywords:

• Health communication
• evolutionary psychology
• advertising effectiveness
• smoking prevention campaign
• alcohol prevention campaign

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Because we formulated competing hypotheses for H1, the explicit hypotheses for H2a|b are:

H2a: For slow (survival-oriented) strategists, attitude toward the ad will be less favourable when lethal (vs. reproductive) disease appeals are used, leading to decreased intention to drink alcohol or to smoke, while for fast (reproduction-oriented) strategists, attitude towards the ad will be less favourable when reproductive (vs. lethal) disease appeals are used, leading to decreased intention to drink alcohol or to smoke.

H2b: For slow (survival-oriented) strategists, attitude toward the ad will be less favourable when reproductive (vs. lethal) disease appeals are used, leading to decreased intention to drink alcohol or to smoke, while for fast (reproduction-oriented) strategists, attitude toward the ad will be less favourable when lethal (vs. reproductive) disease appeals are used, leading to decreased intention to drink alcohol or to smoke.

2 Because we formulated competing hypotheses for H1, the explicit hypotheses for H3a|b are:

H3a: For negative framing, but not for positive framing, disease appeal and life history strategy interact to affect intention to drink alcohol or to smoke, such that for slow (survival-oriented) strategists, intention to drink alcohol or to smoke is lower when lethal (vs. reproductive) disease appeals are used, and for fast (reproduction-oriented) strategists, intention to drink alcohol or to smoke is lower when reproductive (vs. lethal) disease appeals are used.

H3b: For negative framing, but not for positive framing, disease appeal and life history strategy interact to affect intention to drink alcohol or to smoke, such that for slow (survival-oriented) strategists, intention to drink alcohol or to smoke is lower when reproductive (vs. lethal) disease appeals are used, and for fast (reproduction-oriented) strategists, intention to drink alcohol or to smoke is lower when lethal (vs. reproductive) disease appeals are used.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lachezar Ivanov

Lachezar Ivanov is a PhD Candidate in Marketing in the joint doctoral program “Dynamic Capabilities and Relationships” of the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder) and the German Graduate School of Management and Law in Heilbronn, Germany. He uses behavioral science to improve marketing and advertising. His research interests include gender differences, humor, health communication, pro-environmental behaviors, and cross-cultural advertising.

Martin Eisend

Martin Eisend is a professor of marketing at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. His research focuses on consumer behavior, marketing communication, and empirical generalizations.

Sandra Diehl

Sandra Diehl (PhD, Saarland University, Germany) is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Media and Communications at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria. Her research interests include CSR and health communication, international and intercultural advertising, as well as media and convergence management.

Iris M. Wang

Iris M Wang is a doctoral student at the University of Michigan in Social Psychology. She applies an evolutionary psychological perspective towards understanding social behavior.

Malgorzata Karpinska-Krakowiak

Malgorzata Karpinska-Krakowiak is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Lodz, Poland. Her research focuses on consumer behavior and marketing communications. Prior to entering academia she worked as a strategy manager in an advertising agency where she was responsible for advertising campaigns run for various brands, including Masterfoods, Nestle, Storck, Heinz, Colgate-Palmolive, and Kimberly Clark.