Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T05:24:52.828Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Public Service Announcements and Promoting Face Masks During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 September 2021

Steven Greene ,
Marc Hetherington ,
Rahsaan Maxwell Open the ORCID record for Rahsaan Maxwell [Opens in a new window]  and
Timothy J. Ryan
Steven Greene
Affiliation:
North Carolina State University, USA
Marc Hetherington
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
Rahsaan Maxwell
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
Timothy J. Ryan
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Wearing face masks to combat the spread of COVID-19 became a politicized and contested practice in the United States, largely due to misinformation and partisan cues from masking opponents. This article examines whether Public Service Announcements (PSAs) can encourage the use of face masks. We designed two PSAs: one describes the benefits of using face masks; the other uses a novel messenger (i.e., a retired US general) to advocate for them. We conducted two studies. First, we aired our PSAs on television and surveyed residents of the media market to determine if they saw the PSA and how they felt about wearing face masks. Second, we conducted a randomized experiment on a diverse national sample. Both studies suggest that exposure to our PSAs increased support for face masks and induced greater compliance with public health advice. These findings have implications for how governments might fight pandemics.

Type
Article
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 55 , Issue 1 , January 2022 , pp. 7 - 12
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

ABC11. 2020. “North Carolina’s Statewide Mask Requirement Is Now in Effect. Here’s What You Need To Know.” ABC11, June 26.Google Scholar
Asmelash, Leah. 2020. “The Surgeon General of the United States Wants Americans to Stop Buying Face Masks.” CNN Health, March 2.Google Scholar
Baker, Sara, and Petty, Richard. 1994. “Majority and Minority Influence: Source–Position Imbalance as a Determinant of Message Scrutiny.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 67 (1): 5.10.1037/0022-3514.67.1.5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berman, Russell. 2020. “Facing a COVID-19 Resurgence and Unable to Act.” The Atlantic, June 18.Google Scholar
Centers for Disease Control. 2020. “Scientific Brief: Community Use of Cloth Masks to Control the Spread of SARS-CoV-2.” Atlanta, GA.Google Scholar
Collinson, Stephen. 2020. “Trump’s Rebuke of Fauci Encapsulates Rejection of Science in Virus Fight.” CNN.com, May 14.Google Scholar
Druckman, James N. 2001. “On the Limits of Framing Effects: Who Can Frame?” Journal of Politics 63 (4): 1041–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebbs, Stephanie, and Salzman, Sony. 2020. “CDC Recommends Face Masks, Asks Americans to Evaluate Risk of Summer Events.” ABC News, June 12.Google Scholar
Gadarian, Shana, Goodman, Sara Wallace, and Pepinsky, Thomas. Forthcoming. Pandemic Politics: How COVID-19 Exposed the Depth of American Polarization. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Gehrke, Laurenz, and Furlong, Ashleigh. 2020. “Timeline: How Europe Embraced the Coronavirus Face Mask.” Politico, July 16.Google Scholar
Godoy, Maria. 2020. “Yes, Wearing Masks Helps. Here’s Why.” National Public Radio, June 21.Google Scholar
Greene, Steven, Hetherington, Marc, Maxwell, Rahsaan, and Ryan, Timothy. 2021. “Replication Data for: Public Service Announcements and Promoting Face Masks During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Harvard Dataverse DOI: 10.7910/DVN/XDXYPT.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gronke, Paul, and Cook, Timothy E.. 2007. “Disdaining the Media: The American Public’s Changing Attitudes Toward the News.” Political Communication 24 (3): 259–81.10.1080/10584600701471591CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, Jessica. 2020. “Face Mask Dispute Leads to Assault Charge in Provincetown.” Cape Cod Times, June 29.Google Scholar
Lenz, Gabriel S. 2012. Follow the Leader?: How Voters Respond to Politicians’ Policies and Performance. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.10.7208/chicago/9780226472157.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linos, Katerina, and Twist, Kimberly. 2018. “Diverse Pretreatment Effects in Survey Experiments.” Journal of Experimental Political Science 5 (2): 148–58.10.1017/XPS.2017.29CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lupia, Arthur, and McCubbins, Mathew D.. 1998. The Democratic Dilemma: Can Citizens Learn What They Need to Know? New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Maheswaran, Durairaj, and Chaiken, Shelly. 1991. “Promoting Systematic Processing in Low-Motivation Settings: Effect of Incongruent Information on Processing and Judgment.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 61 (1): 13–25.10.1037/0022-3514.61.1.13CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mazzetti, Mark, Weiland, Noah, and LaFraniere, Sharon. 2020. “Behind the White House Effort to Pressure the CDC on School Openings.” New York Times, September 28.Google Scholar
Petty, Richard and Krosnick, Jon. eds. 2014. Attitude Strength: Antecedents and Consequences. New York and London: Psychology Press.10.4324/9781315807041CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pew Research Center. 2020. “Republicans, Democrats Move Even Further Apart in Coronavirus Concerns.” Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.Google Scholar
Rahn, Wendy. 1993. “The Role of Partisan Stereotypes in Information Processing about Political Candidates.” American Journal of Political Science 37 (2): 472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van der Meer, Toni G. L. A., and Jin, Yan. 2020. “Seeking Formula for Misinformation Treatment in Public Health Crises: The Effects of Corrective Information Type and Source.” Health Communication 35 (5): 560–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vraga, Emily, and Bode, Leticia. 2017. “Using Expert Sources to Correct Health Misinformation in Social Media.” Science Communication 39 (5): 621–45.10.1177/1075547017731776CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: Link

Greene et al. Dataset

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/XDXYPT
Link
Supplementary material: File

Greene et al. supplementary material

Greene et al. supplementary material

Download Greene et al. supplementary material(File)
File 4.1 MB