Can cultural facemasks enhance public health communication? Testing a theory-grounded messaging approach

Objective: Supporting the uptake of protective health measures is key to the management of new and existing health threats. We present and test a novel theory-grounded messaging approach that combines death reminders with exposure to an NHS prime located on the facemask of the spokesperson. Methods: In two preregistered online RCTs in samples of UK nationals who identified as White/Caucasian, we tested public health communications concerning COVID-19 vaccination (Study 1) and booster (Study 2). Results: In Study 1, our messaging approach increased protective behavioural intentions in a de-facto vaccine-resistant population with lower levels of interpersonal trust. In Study 2, some vaccinated participants seemed to have reacted to the health communication in ways intended to restore personal freedom, rejecting the booster advice provided. Conclusions: Overall, the current findings show that our tailored messaging approach can affect people’s COVID-19-related protective health intentions depending on individual differences. We discuss insights concerning the psychological mechanisms underpinning our effects and present testable directions for the optimisation of the tailoring of our messaging approach towards behaviour change.