Using Humor to Promote Social Distancing on Tiktok During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

BackgroundDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, many humorous videos on how to practice social distancing appeared on social media. However, the effect of using humor as a crisis communication strategy to persuade people to conform to social distancing rules is not known.ObjectiveDrawing on the literature on humorous message framing and crisis communication, this research explores the effectiveness of a humorous message in communicating social distancing rules in two crisis severity phases (low vs. high severity) and also evaluates how humor affects individuals’ online and offline engagement intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsA 2 (message framing: humorous vs. non-humorous) x 2 (crisis severity phase: low vs. high) between-subjects design experiment was conducted to test the research questions during the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic in China from January 30 to February 2, 2020.ResultsThe results showed that the severity of the phase of a health crisis can significantly affect stakeholders’ online and offline responses toward the disease. More specifically, in a low severity phase, humor led to increased source likability for the message, and more online and offline engagement intentions. However, no differences between a humorous and non-humorous message in perceived risk were observed. Whereas, in a high severity crisis phase, humor reduced individuals’ offline engagement intentions and a decrease in perceived risk, no significant difference was found between a humorous and non-humorous message on source likeability.ConclusionHumor can motivate both more online engagement and offline protective action intention when the crisis severity phase is low, while when crisis severity soars, a non-humorous message should be more desirable. More specifically, using humor in communicating information about an infectious disease can enhance the spokesperson’s likeability in a low severity phase, and also helps to spread health information to a larger audience. While, the negative side of using humor in communicating an infectious disease appears in severe crisis phases, as it then decreased the public’s perception of risk, and triggers less protective actions. Going beyond previous research, this study recognized that crisis severity changes in different phases of the spread of infectious disease, thereby providing actionable strategy selections for crisis practitioners in a dynamic communication environment.

Examining the Persuasive Effects of Health Communication in Short Videos: Systematic Review

“…Furthermore, this implies a potential interaction effect between the theme and narrative technique in short videos, where the influence of narrative techniques may be undermined without an appropriate theme. Xiao and Yu [ 31 ] found that humorous short video messages increased message likability but reduced individuals’ risk perception, emphasizing the need for additional inquiries into the intricate balance between attention-grabbing narrative methods and achieving the intended persuasive results.…”

“…In light of the inconclusive findings regarding the primary persuasive effects of health messages in short videos, 10 studies investigated the conditions or mechanisms under which these persuasive effects occur. These studies provided evidence that the persuasive impact of health messages in short videos was moderated by individuals’ sociodemographic factors (eg, age, race, and therapeutic background [ 16 , 35 ]), health and media literacy [ 33 , 40 ], political ideology and beliefs [ 28 ], message dissemination phases [ 31 ], and congruence between exposed and evaluated cases [ 30 ]. Generally, narrative techniques were found to be particularly beneficial for individuals with low literacy because of their limited self-efficacy in understanding and processing information [ 33 , 40 ].…”

“…Several studies found that the anticipated superior narrative style did not outperform alternative methods [ 65 , 66 ], aligning with the findings in the study by Tukachinsky [ 49 ] that narrative techniques used in videos had a smaller effect size than textual and video game stimuli, possibly because of reduced mental simulation requirements [ 50 ]. Consequently, there is an urgent need for further research to examine the overall effectiveness of narrative techniques for health communication in short videos and the boundary conditions of such narrative techniques, such as the context of the disease [ 31 ] and target audience [ 40 ].…”

“…For example, owing to their brief duration, attention-grabbing features are vital for short video producers. However, attention-grabbing elements, such as humor, can act as a double-edged sword in persuasion, as they might compromise the credibility of health care messages [ 69 ] and diminish risk perception [ 31 ]. Thus, striking a delicate balance between garnering attention and persuading through short videos may present a challenge for health practitioners.…”

“…broadly) Humorous message reduced risk perception compared with rational message. N/A Xiao and Yu [31], 2022…”