Open Access(How) did attack advertisements increase Affordable Care Act enrollments?
Author(s) -
Niam Yaraghi,
Darrell M. West,
Ram Gopal,
Ram Ramesh
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0228185
Subject(s) - context (archaeology) , curiosity , advertising , test (biology) , sample (material) , observational study , randomized experiment , psychology , marketing , business , internet privacy , medicine , social psychology , computer science , biology , paleontology , chemistry , chromatography , pathology
We examine the effects of exposure to negative information in attack advertisements in the context of Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Common Core (CC) education standards and show that they lead to an increase in the ACA enrollments and support of the CC standards. To explain this effect, we rely on the knowledge-gap theory and show that individuals who were exposed to more attack advertisements were also more likely to independently seek information, become more knowledgeable, and consequently support these subjects. In addition to an observational study, to test our hypotheses on the link between exposure to negative information, curiosity, and shifts in knowledge and support levels, we design and conduct a randomized experiment using a sample of 300 unique individuals. Our multi-methods research contributes to marketing literature by documenting a rare occasion in which exposure to attack advertisements leads to increased demand and unveiling the mechanisms through which this effect takes place.