Mortality Salience's Effects on Consumers’ Responses to Advertising During a Global Public Health Crisis

The advertising industry was severely impacted by COVID-19. During this global health crisis, advertisers appealed to consumers with health messages. Terror management theory posits that health-related messages can elicit mortality thoughts that will affect consumption behaviors. This study examines that hypothesis in an advertising context during this pandemic. Findings demonstrate that health messages generated more mortality-related thoughts and higher ratings of perceived corporate social responsibility than non-health messages. Further, mortality-related thoughts negatively affected travel intentions to both international and domestic destinations. Such effects were mediated by trust in destination and moderated by perceived COVID-19 health risk.