When Do Public Health Epilogues Correct the Influence of Alcohol Story Lines on Youth?: The Interplay of Narrative Transportation and Persuasion Knowledge

Youth drinking is a major public health problem. Entertainment content that positively depicts alcohol consumption is often implicated as a factor shaping youths’ attitudes and beliefs about drinking alcohol. This research examines whether and under which conditions corrective epilogues can counteract the influence of a television episode featuring positive consequences of drinking. Building on recent research that demonstrates how consumers’ persuasion knowledge can increase acceptance of a message, this study finds that persuasion knowledge enhances receptivity to epilogues but only among viewers who are highly transported into the story. The research points to a promising approach to remedy the potentially harmful influence of a story line depicting undesirable behaviors on a vulnerable population.