Using humor to increase COVID-19 vaccination intention for the unvaccinated: The moderating role of trust in government

Hye Jin Yoon, Jongmin Lee, Jeong Yeob Han, Youngjee Ko, Hanyoung Kim, Youngji Seo, Ja Kyung Seo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, scholars and practitioners have put much effort into testing effective advertising strategies for COVID-19 vaccinations. Guided by humor theories, this study aimed to examine (1) the effect of humor on persuading COVID-19 vaccination and (2) the moderating role of trust in government for the unvaccinated population. Across two studies (college students and general adult populations), for lower trust in government individuals, through greater public service advertisement (PSA) processing depth and believability, there was a higher vaccination intention after the humor (non-humor) advertisement. For higher trust in government individuals, there was evidence that the vaccination intention was lowered after the humor (vs. non-humor) message through lowered PSA processing depth and believability. This study expands humor theory into testing COVID-19 vaccination messages while considering an individual psychological factor, trust in the government, that has emerged as an essential determinant to COVID-19 messaging. The contributions to COVID-19 vaccination advertising strategy and advertising to the unvaccinated population, in general, are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1084-1095
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of Consumer Behaviour
Volume22
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Consumer Behaviour published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Applied Psychology

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