Being healthy or looking good? The effectiveness of health versus appearance-focused arguments in two-sided messages

Abstract

Two experimental studies test the effectiveness of health versus appearance-related arguments in two-sided messages. The first study shows that two-sided messages to discourage suntanning are more effective when using appearance-focused instead of health-focused arguments. Study 2 elaborates on the underlying mechanism and extends the generalization of the results of the first study, by investigating two-sided messages to promote physical exercise. The results show that for health-motivated consumers, a health-focused message is more effective, whereas for appearance-motivated consumers, an appearance-focused message is more effective. This matching effect is mediated by argument relevance.