The effects of cause-related marketing (CRM) on social media and in health communication: How does CRM-based social media message influence health perception?

Given that cause-related marketing (CRM) frequently features health issues in marketing, this study examined how and to what extent cause-related marketing (CRM) on social media affect millennials’ responses to both marketing and health information embedded in CRM. A total of 300 undergraduate students (71% female, Mage=19.66 for all participants) participated in a 2 (brand-cause fit: low vs. high) X 2 (cause proximity: local vs. international) between-subjects experiment. In addition, cause involvement (high vs. low) was the third independent variable. In terms of marketing perspectives, this study found main effects of brand-cause fit, cause proximity, and cause involvement on marketing related dependent variables (e.g., attitudes toward brand, campaign participation intention). However, this study did not find two-way and three-way interactions on attitudes toward brand, attitudes toward non-profit organization, attitude toward the CRM message, campaign participation intention and engagement on social media. In terms of health communication variables, main effects of cause involvement on attitudes toward sunscreen use, and attitudes toward skin cancer were found. Moreover, this study found a three-way interaction on behavioral control for sunscreen use as well as two two-way interactions: a two-way interaction between fit and cause involvement on behavioral control for sunscreen use, and a two-way interaction between brand-cause fit and cause proximity on attitudes toward skin cancer. Taken together, these interaction effects indicate a great potential of using CRM to target those who are less involved with the cause in health communications. The findings suggest that a CRM message with low brand-cause fit and a local cause, and a CRM message with high brand-cause fit and an international cause can motivate consumers who are less involved with the cause to have a higher level of behavioral control for sunscreen use and more positive attitudes toward skin cancer. Moreover, as for the theoretical contributions of this study, it is noted that the effects of level of involvement contradict prior results using the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). The results showed that individuals who are less involved with the cause are more likely to have more positive attitudes toward marketing variables and health communication variables than those who are more involved with the cause. Thus, future research should examine whether cause involvement in the digital and CRM context plays a role as a moderator in ELM from both the marketing and health communication standpoints