Teaching Consumer Resistance in Jamaica: Subvertising in Action

Our videography features a ‘subvertising competition’ among adolescents and mothers in Jamaica, as part of an intervention to build persuasion knowledge by teaching consumer resistance through creativity. Although all Jamaicans are inundated by U.S. media, those who internalize U.S. culture via “remote acculturation” are especially vulnerable to negative health habits promoted by U.S. advertising (Ferguson et al. 2017). To address this problem, we developed the J(amaican and) U(nited) S(tates) Media? Programme (2-session workshop teaching nutrition and persuasion knowledge). The film allows viewers to see the intervention (Belk et al. 2017); the critiques are performance acts of consumer power. Through art, poetry and song, families give voice to their skepticism. Literature/Contribution. We focus on family as an important consumer socialization force (e.g, Moore, Wilkie and Desrochers 2017) to build persuasion knowledge (PK; Friestad and Wright 1994). Not much is known about PK in developing countries or how to teach consumer resistance. Subvertisements simultaneously allow audiences to critically evaluate media content and to construct subversive narratives, often through parody (Harold 2004). We taught families to ask: What information is missing? What is the ad really saying? Then, families critiqued, created, and competed. Method. 92 teen-mother dyads in Kingston were selected based on higher remote acculturation and unhealthy eating. Dyads were randomly assigned to control or intervention groups. Food intake and media literacy/PK were measured at multiple points. Focus groups about the subvertisements were held. Findings. Overall, the intervention groups scored higher than control group in media literacy (PK) and fruit consumption. Focus groups revealed knowledge of health consequences and persuasion. This pragmatic, substantive videography (Belk et al. 2017) shows the promise of transdisciplinary, theory-driven interventions to change real-world behavior (Lynch et al. 2012). The narrative follows a problem-solution format with the ‘process’ and ‘performances’ highlighted and findings embedded (Cayla and Arnould 2013).