Use of inoculation to foster resistance to credit card marketing targeting college students

Abstract

Student credit card debt is a growing problem. This study explores the effectiveness of the inoculation strategy to foster resistance to credit card marketing targeting college students. In order to explore further the medical analogy on which the inoculation strategy is based, this study was the first systematically to alter the argument strength of both the counterarguments and refutations in the inoculation pretreatment message to determine whether argument strengths impact effectiveness of inoculation treatments. In addition, this investigation explored whether inoculation spreads from person to person via social channels, similar to the marketing concept of viral marketing. Results indicated that conventional inoculation treatment messages successfully inoculated college students against credit card advertisements, manifested in attitude valence and behavioral intentions, and that matching argument strength is the most effective inoculation strategy.

A Meta-Analysis of Research on Inoculation Theory

“…Yet, some scholars have found results inconsistent with the theory (e.g. Adams & Beatty, 1977;Benoit, 1991;Burgoon & Chase, 1973;Burgoon & King, 1974;Compton & Pfau, 2004;Crane, 1962;Farkas & Anderson, 1976;Lessne, 1983;Pashupati et al, 2002;Pryor & Steinfatt, 1978;Sawyer, 1973). In these experiments, inoculation treatments have been shown to be ineffective at conferring resistance.…”

“…The ability of inoculation treatments to confer resistance for weeks, and, in some cases, months (Pfau & Van Bockern, 1994) speaks to the robustness of inoculation theory, but it does little to help answer the question of the most advantageous time period to inoculate attitudes. Although there is no consensus on the optimal time interval between treatment and attack, Compton and Pfau's (2004) argument about the tradeoff between motivation and decay suggests a solution. They claim that a curvilinear relationship is likely to exist involving the interval between inoculation treatments and subsequent attacks and the ability of an inoculation message to confer resistance.…”

“…The mechanisms behind the inoculation process and several nuances of the theory have been identified and tested (Compton & Pfau, 2005;Szabo & Pfau, 2002). Further, scholars have investigated inoculation's potential application in health (Pfau & Van Bockern, 1994;Pfau, Van Bockern, & Kang, 1992), political Pfau & Burgoon, 1988), educational (Compton & Pfau, 2008), and commercial contexts (Burgoon, Pfau, & Birk, 1995;Compton & Pfau, 2004). However, despite two comprehensive narrative reviews of research on inoculation theory (Compton & Pfau, 2005;Szabo & Pfau, 2002), the complete picture of this theory remains unclear.…”

“…Several scholars have rejected inoculation as a cause of resistance (e.g. Cronen & LaFleur, 1977;Tannenbaum, 1966;Tannenbaum, Macaulay, & Norris, 1966;Tannenbaum & Norris, 1965), others have found inoculation to only work under specific circumstances (e.g., Compton & Pfau, 2004;Crane, 1962;Pryor & Steinfatt, 1978;Sawyer, 1973), and others reported instances where an inoculation induction was no more effective (or even less effective) than a supportive message induction or a no-message control in promoting resistance (e.g., Adams & Beatty, 1977;Benoit, 1991;Burgoon & Chase, 1973;Burgoon & King, 1974;Farkas & Anderson, 1976;Lessne, 1983;Pashupati, Arpan, & Nikolaev, 2002). Meta-analysis makes it possible to clarify the inconsistent findings in the body of research on inoculation theory.…”

Saving Media or Trading on Trust?

“…According to inoculation theory, people who are forewarned about a persuasive message attempt are better able to resist the persuasion (McGuire 1 61). For instance, college students who were forewarned about credit card marketing practices and the hazards of debt were more resistant to credit card solicitations than those who were not forewarned (Compton and Pfau 2004). Furthermore, in a study specifically about native advertising, participants primed about the presence of a native ad were more likely to recognize it and more likely to perceive its persuasive intent (Wu et al 2016).…”