Eww! Examining the Effect of Disgust Imagery and Temporal Framing in Skin Cancer Prevention Advertising

Abstract

Skin cancer is one of the most preventable cancers, yet is one of the most common types of cancer in the world. Specifically, New Zealand has one of the higher UV indices in the world, making New Zealanders extremely susceptible to skin cancer. Despite many social marketing campaigns encouraging behaviour change to reduce the incidence rate of preventable skin cancer, over 80,000 people in New Zealand are still diagnosed with skin cancer each year. Such preventative behaviours can include the application of sunscreen, wearing protective clothing or seeking shade. Consequently, there is a need to investigate social marketing efforts to attempt to reduce such a rate. Primarily a disease avoidance behaviour, disgust has been used in marketing campaigns as triggers of a change in behaviour. Disgust imagery can be a successful trigger of behaviour change, particularly in health-related literature such as tobacco advertising. Moreover, implementing temporal framing in social marketing campaigns has also had significant impact on adopting health-related behaviours. Temporal framing can be conceptualised as gain vs loss, prevention vs promotion and reference points in time. Research is yet to address the moderating effect of temporal framing on the relationship between disgust imagery and triggering behavioural intentions such as the intent to apply sunscreen. Therefore, the purpose of the current research is to address this gap in the literature. This research adopts an online survey to examine the proposed relationships. It was found that disgust imagery and temporal framing did not significantly impact the intent to apply sunscreen on their own (main effects). However, when studied in combination the two variables did influence the intent to apply sunscreen (interaction effect). This study highlights the need for disgust imagery to be disgusting in nature and combined with short-term temporal framing in order to have an effect on the intent to apply sunscreen. Additionally, protection motivation theory provides an explanation as to why such interaction effect triggers respondents to adopt certain preventative behavioural intentions. Moreover, the findings of the current research have academic and practical implications for social marketers, dermatologists and advertisers.