Do the explanations regarding the safety of Fukushima-produced foods ease consumer's concerns about disease?

Abstract

Consumers have had concerns over the safety of Fukushima-produced foods since the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. To dispel these concerns, the public administration has distributed the informational leaflets, which guarantee the safety of Fukushima-produced foods in the marketplace. We investigated the effectiveness of the leaflets. Previous research showed that the activation of behavioral immune system exacerbated prejudice toward out-group members. Therefore, we investigated whether reading the leaflets about the safety of foods would increase prejudice toward foreigners. Participants (N = 50) were asked to read a leaflet either relevant or irrelevant to the safety of Fukushima-produced foods and then complete a Japanese-Foreigners Implicit Association Test and Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Scale. As predicted, participants high in chronic germ aversion (GA) were more prejudiced against foreigners when reading the leaflet relevant to the safety of Fukushima-produced foods than when reading the leaflet irrelevant to the issue. No such effect was observed among participants low in GA. These results indicated the possibility that the current leaflet about the safety of Fukushima foods might backfire.