Abstract
This study uses evolutionary psychology to examine how the use of disease appeals affects unhealthy behavioural intentions among consumers with different life-history strategies (LHS). Do they invest more resources in survival (slow strategists) or more resources in reproduction (fast strategists)? The results of two experimental studies indicate that behavioural intention to drink alcohol or to smoke varies as a function of the type of appeal used and the LHS of the consumer. Slow strategists’ behavioural intention is lower when a reproductive disease appeal is used, while fast strategists’ behavioural intention is lower when a lethal disease appeal is used. The interactive effect is moderated by message framing and appears only for negatively framed messages, but not for positively framed messages. These results contribute to advertising research by providing an evolutionary explanation for the effects of disease appeals in preventive health communication and implications for consumer well-being.
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