Corporate advertising as inoculation against negative news: An experimental investigation of efficacy and presentation order effects

One objective of corporate advertising is to build a positive image for the organization in order to immunize it against the impact of negative news in the future. An experiment was conducted to test if a corporate ad could inoculate an audience with initially positive attitudes toward the organization against a negative news report about the organization. Study participants exposed only to a negative news report had more positive attitudes toward the organization than participants who saw the news report in addition to an image ad. Participants' initial attitudes were found to be the most potent predictor of final attitudes toward the organization, suggesting that information integration theory offers a better explanation of attitude formation than the theory of reasoned action.