Consumer Inoculation

Consumer inoculation is a prophylactic communication tactic aimed at strengthening consumer attitudes and beliefs so that they become more resistant to change. Consumer inoculation has been applied in a variety of business contexts, such as comparative advertising, brand management, after-sales customer care, service marketing, and corporate social responsibility. This chapter reviews the academic business literature (i.e., scholarship in management and marketing) and aims to tease out which factors make consumer inoculation effective and illustrate relevant boundary conditions to the theorem. To this end, the chapter first conceptualizes consumer inoculation. It distinguishes it from similar existing concepts in the management and marketing literature, such as expectation management and two-sided information, and then describes potential theoretical mechanisms underlying consumer inoculation and avenues for future research. The chapter also provides vital implications for managers who intend to implement consumer inoculation to stabilize relevant consumer mindset metrics against unwanted change.