Effects of Indirectly and Directly Competing Reference Group Messages and Persuasion Knowledge: Implications for Educational Placements

Educational placements increasingly appear to replace public service announcements as a means of communication, but their efficacy seems questionable because they contain mixed messages. Two experiments, conducted with 2850 adolescents, test versions of a real television program with an antismoking educational placement against a control program. Typical antismoking programs contain three indirectly competing messages: Smokers are attractive and prevalent but also worthy of disapproval. Experiment 1 tests several program versions with these three messages and reveals that the disapproval message dominates and elicits negative smoker thoughts and beliefs, despite the otherwise potent smoker attractiveness message. Experiment 2 indicates corresponding effects for intent but shows that adding a directly competitive smoker approval message nullifies this effect. Furthermore, Experiment 2 tests an educational epilogue designed to reinforce the disapproval message, but this message instead induces boomerang effects among smokers. That is, among smokers, an educational placement is counterattitudinal, so when the epilogue discloses the placement and evokes persuasion knowledge, smokers generate more positive smoker beliefs and intentions. These findings contribute to research regarding competing referent messages, disclosures, and persuasion knowledge.

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