2015 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
Influencing Consumer Perceptions of a Social Issue: an Experiment on the Effects of Message Sidedness and Inward/Outward Focus on Consumer Attitudes Toward Genetically Modified Foods.
Authors : Michelle Renton, David Fortin, Kevin Voges
Published in: Proceedings of the 2010 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
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Several consumer studies have confirmed negative views towards GM products, even though from a scientific point of view, negative aspects related to their consumption appear minimal if they exist at all. A key research question then is how can communication campaigns be developed to influence public opinion about GMF? This study uses Wansink and Kim’s (2001) framework to examine how two message cues likely to influence cognitive elaboration, (i) message sidedness and (ii) inward vs. outward focus, affect perceptions of risks and benefits associated with GMFs and attitude towards the ad (Aad). Previous literature suggests that for recipients who are likely to be higher-level processors of a message, a two-sided refutational message will lead to higher supportive cognitive elaborations, and therefore enhance persuasion effects (Pechmann, 1992; Crowley and Hoyer, 1994). The message focus literature proposes that when an inward (depicting an individual) or outward (depicting a group or community) focused message matches a recipient’s internal self or other orientation, both cognitive elaboration and persuasion effects will be impacted on positively (Cross and Madson, 1997, Markus and Kitiyama, 1997).