Imagine you’re trying to recruit people for a program that fights loneliness through dog encounters. You’re deciding between these two possible messages:
- If you love dogs, this is the meet-up for you! (a persuasive frame)
- If you don’t love dogs, this is not the meet-up for you! (a dissuasive frame)
Intuitively, most people would choose the first option, since it directly appeals to the audience you want to reach. But are there situations in which the second message might actually be more persuasive? A recent paper published in the Journal of Consumer Research explored this question through a series of eight experiments.
In the first experiment, the researchers measured engagement with Facebook Ads that either used persuasive or dissuasive framing. In each of the remaining seven experiments, participants were recruited through the survey platform Prolific and randomly assigned to see persuasive or dissuasive messages about products or experiences (such as coffee, mattresses, and travel).
What they learned: Across studies, dissuasive framing led to higher engagement and stronger purchase-related responses among people in the target audience, compared to persuasive framing. It had the opposite effect for people outside the target audience, making them less likely to engage or choose the offering. In the dog meet-up example, that means a message like “If you don’t love dogs, this is not the meet-up for you” would be more convincing to people who like dogs, but less convincing to people who don't. The reason is that dissuasive messages make the offering feel more narrowly targeted. When a message clearly excludes some people, it signals that the product or experience is designed for a specific audience. For people who see themselves as a good fit, that makes the message feel more relevant and persuasive; for those who don’t, it has the opposite effect.
Why it matters: Health messages are often not universal and are intended for specific audiences. Dissuasive framing is a tool that can help communicators better reach the people that need to hear their message, and avoid the people that don’t.
➡️ Idea worth stealing: Consider explicitly excluding people outside your target audience in your messages. For example, a message like “If you don’t like the outdoors, this workout program is not for you” can be more persuasive to the people you are trying to reach.
What to watch: How research-based tips like this one translate to larger-scale health campaigns.
- Elissa Scherer
