Story-telling marketing is a popular way to persuade someone to cross over in a particular direction. For example, if we wanted to sell medical supplements we might include reviews by happy customers. This may work because people are in pursuit of happiness, and we are all lemmings to an extent. Scientists at University of Kansas wondered could COVID conversion messages also convince.
COVID Conversion Messages Convince Vaccine Skeptics
Those in favor of universal vaccination have run out of road when it comes to hard selling. Health communicators, medical professionals, and politicians have all but given up according to WIBW news channel on June 4, 2022.
Meanwhile, disruptive elements on social media are having a field day telling vaccine skeptics what they want to hear. The Kansas University team knew COVID conversion is about fundamental values. These include balancing social responsibility with the right to freedom of choice, and so on.
The university’s press release confirms story-telling messages have worked in religion and philosophy for a long, long time. So it seemed entirely reasonable to find out whether COVID conversion messages could convince too.
COVID Story-Telling More Effective Than Hard Advocacy
Advocacy is speaking on behalf of, or in support of another person, place, thing, or value. When we tell another person science believes this or that about COVID, we are advocating that opinion. However, if the person believes science is one-sided, then our reasoning falls through the floor.
The Kansas University communication specialists created two sets of messages:
- Advocacy messages that provided logical reasons why COVID vaccinations make common sense.
- Conversion messages in which someone recounted how they changed their mind about vaccines.
They trialed those messages among subjects who had already declared their opinions. Sure enough, the conversion messages were more likely to change the attitudes of vaccine skeptics than the hard sells.
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