Smokers Are Suckers: Should Incongruous Metaphors Be Used in Public Health Prevention?

Basso, Frédéric; Oullier, Olivier

doi:10.2105/ajph.2010.197996

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 10 publications

(6 reference statements)

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“…This may have hindered consumers from thinking of cows as friendly beings. In line with this explanation, literature documents that a new metaphor can actually be unsuccessful (or even backfire) when its association is too incongruous (Basso & Oullier, 2011). In light of these results, the effect of the friendship metaphor may be limited to animals associated with positive expressions (e.g., "happy as a pig in mud").…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“Animals are friends, not food”: Anthropomorphism leads to less favorable attitudes toward meat consumption by inducing feelings of anticipatory guilt

Wang

Basso

2019

Appetite

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Why do people befriend animals, yet don't feel conflicted about eating some of them? Previous research on the "meat paradox" suggests that the dehumanization of meat animals plays a crucial role in attenuating the negative affective states that consumers may experience when consuming meat. However, relatively little is known about how the converse process, namely anthropomorphism, influences meat consumption. The current research provides evidence that anthropomorphizing meat animals through the friendship metaphor, "animals are friends", can alter (omnivorous) consumers' attitudes and behavioral intentions toward meat eating, and induce feelings of guilt. More specifically, our experimental findings reveal that anthropomorphism has a negative effect on consumers' attitudes toward the food served in a restaurant and their intentions to patronize it when (pork) meat is on offer. This effect holds whether consumers are invited to consider themselves (Study 1a) or staff members (Study 1b) as taking part in a friendly humananimal interaction. We also demonstrate a similar effect of anthropomorphism on attitudes toward a (pork) meat product and their intentions to buy it, when consumers consider animal-animal friendship or human-animal friendship (Study 2). Last, we show that the negative effect of anthropomorphism on consumers' attitudes and behavioral intentions toward (pork) meat consumption is mediated by increased feelings of anticipatory guilt (Studies 3a and 3c). Nevertheless, no such effect was found with another kind of meat (beef), which indicates that anthropomorphizing meat animals through the friendship metaphor cannot be successfully applied to all commonly eaten species (Study 3b). Implications of these results for meat consumption are discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“Animals are friends, not food”: Anthropomorphism leads to less favorable attitudes toward meat consumption by inducing feelings of anticipatory guilt

Wang

Basso

2019

Appetite

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“…Figurative metaphors deviate artfully from expectations (Phillips & McQuarrie, ). However, if figurativeness is too disruptive, the metaphor may be unsuccessful, as demonstrated by some antismoking campaigns that led the targeted population to misunderstand the metaphor's intended meaning (Basso & Oullier, ; Bremer & Lee, ). Therefore, it would be interesting to attempt to account for the impact of the visual perspective on highly figurative metaphors and the potential disruption of health‐oriented campaigns.…”

Section: Perspectives On Health Marketing From the Embodied Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pleasure and the Control of Food Intake: An Embodied Cognition Approach to Consumer Self‐Regulation

Petit

Basso

Merunka

et al. 2016

Psychology and Marketing

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International audienceConsumers try to avoid temptation when exposed to appetizing foods by diverting their attention away from their senses (e.g., sight, smell, mouthfeel) and bodily states (e.g., state of arousal, salivation) in order to focus on their longer term goals (e.g., eating healthily, achieving an ideal body weight). However, when not including sensations in their decision-making processes, consumers risk depleting their self-regulatory resources, potentially leading to unhealthy food choices. Conversely, based on the concept of ``embodied self-regulation,'' the suggestion is made that considering bodily states may help consumers regulate their food choices more effectively. A new model is proposed that facilitates understanding observed consumer behavior and the success or failure of self-control in food intake. It is argued that bodily states and sensory information should be considered when modeling consumer behavior and developing health-related advocacy and communication campaigns. The model proposed here leads to new perspectives on consumer consumption behavior and health policy research and strategies. (C) 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

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“…Rhetoric has become a popular research topic (Phillips & McQuarrie, ) and within advertising, rhetoric is granted attention for its cross‐cultural implications (Arnould & Thompson, ), as well as its role in constructing metaphors (Capelli & Jolibert, ). For instance, this work is attracting the attention of public health researchers, who investigate how rhetoric and metaphor operate in health‐related messages such as antismoking and AIDS prevention campaigns (Basso & Oullier, ; Lubinga, Schulze, Jansen, & Maes, ). Investigations of rhetoric in static advertising have been extended to television and Internet advertising contexts (Thelwall & Price, ), as well as to product design and branding (Gregan‐Paxton, Hibbard, Brunel, & Azar, ).…”

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confidence: 99%

The Effects of Rhetorical Figures and Cognitive Load in Word‐of‐Mouth Communications

Fox

Rinaldo

Amant

2015

Psychology and Marketing

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Advertising messages often are intended to ignite large‐scale word‐of‐mouth campaigns among consumers. Drawing primarily from memetic theory, cognitive fit theory, and perceptual fluency, this research examines how rhetoric and cognitive load interact to enhance or diminish desirable effects such as retention of the original intent of the message (copy‐fidelity) and engendering a desire to pass the message along (fecundity). Certain types of rhetoric are shown to aid this process by making some messages more attractive for retransmission and increasing retention of the original message, while cognitive load modifies which types are effective in accordance with cognitive fit and perceptual fluency. The results suggest that low‐deviation high‐complexity message forms (known as reversal) are the most effective for creating positive word‐of‐mouth outcomes and limiting potentially negative outcomes. Additionally, the results show that destabilization messages are more likely to yield mutated word‐of‐mouth messages that consumers still feel a strong desire to pass along to others. For practitioners, the results indicate what message forms should be used to effectively spark word‐of‐mouth campaigns.

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Smokers Are Suckers: Should Incongruous Metaphors Be Used in Public Health Prevention?

Cited by 7 publications

References 10 publications

“Animals are friends, not food”: Anthropomorphism leads to less favorable attitudes toward meat consumption by inducing feelings of anticipatory guilt

“Animals are friends, not food”: Anthropomorphism leads to less favorable attitudes toward meat consumption by inducing feelings of anticipatory guilt

Pleasure and the Control of Food Intake: An Embodied Cognition Approach to Consumer Self‐Regulation

The Effects of Rhetorical Figures and Cognitive Load in Word‐of‐Mouth Communications

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