The backfiring effect of fairness salience in health messages regarding food allergies and diabetes

Melissa Foster; Melissa Foster

doi:10.3934/Allergy.2022010

AIMS Allergy and Immunology

2022, Volume 6, Issue 3: 106-125. doi: 10.3934/Allergy.2022010

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Research article

The backfiring effect of fairness salience in health messages regarding food allergies and diabetes

Melissa Foster ^,

The Ohio State University, USA

Received: 20 May 2022 Revised: 01 July 2022 Accepted: 15 July 2022 Published: 22 July 2022

Social media posts intended to increase empathy thereby garnering support for public policy that improves the health and well-being of vulnerable populations can make salient the fact that vulnerable populations' experiences are unfair. For example, children with food allergies or diabetes often do not have access to emergency medication and can be isolated and treated poorly by peers. Raising awareness of this disparity, especially when paired with an image of an afflicted child, was expected to increase empathy which could then drive improvements in healthcare policy. However, data from two experimental studies suggest that making injustice salient in such a persuasive appeal can backfire, having the opposite effect as intended. When injustice salience was paired with an image of a patient with food allergies or diabetes, participants, especially those who self-identify as politically conservative, felt less empathy and were less supportive of protective policies. This study seeks to understand the counterintuitive responses people have when presented with clear examples of disparities in conjunction with patient images.
- fairness,
- injustice,
- boomerang,
- backfire,
- empathy,
- policy support,
- disparities
Citation: Melissa Foster. The backfiring effect of fairness salience in health messages regarding food allergies and diabetes[J]. AIMS Allergy and Immunology, 2022, 6(3): 106-125. doi: 10.3934/Allergy.2022010

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Abstract

Social media posts intended to increase empathy thereby garnering support for public policy that improves the health and well-being of vulnerable populations can make salient the fact that vulnerable populations' experiences are unfair. For example, children with food allergies or diabetes often do not have access to emergency medication and can be isolated and treated poorly by peers. Raising awareness of this disparity, especially when paired with an image of an afflicted child, was expected to increase empathy which could then drive improvements in healthcare policy. However, data from two experimental studies suggest that making injustice salient in such a persuasive appeal can backfire, having the opposite effect as intended. When injustice salience was paired with an image of a patient with food allergies or diabetes, participants, especially those who self-identify as politically conservative, felt less empathy and were less supportive of protective policies. This study seeks to understand the counterintuitive responses people have when presented with clear examples of disparities in conjunction with patient images.

Acknowledgments

This research was funded by The Ohio State University School of Communication TESoC program. The author would like to thank Drs. Michael Slater, Brad Bushman, Erik Nisbet, and Nancy Rhodes for valuable insights they provided in conversation relevant to the study goals and design.

Conflict of interest

The author declares no conflict of interest in this paper.

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