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

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.