Potential Vulnerabilities of U.S. Subsistence Consumers to Persuasive Marketing Communications

Abstract

A significant share of U.S. subsistence consumers is both poor and functionally low-literate. A key question that marketers and public policy makers must ask is how vulnerable these consumers are to the persuasiveness of marketing communications. We address this question by identifying who subsistence consumers in the United States are likely to be, exploring what it means to be vulnerable, with an emphasis on cognitive vulnerability; examining two theoretical frameworks for analyzing subsistence consumer vulnerability (elaboration likelihood model and persuasion knowledge model); and offering several propositions incorporating the select cognitive constructs of self-esteem, locus of control, and powerlessness.

Citation

Williams, J.D., Qualls, W.J. and Ferguson, N. (2007), "Potential Vulnerabilities of U.S. Subsistence Consumers to Persuasive Marketing Communications", Rosa, J.A. and Viswanathan, M. (Ed.) Product and Market Development for Subsistence Marketplaces (Advances in International Management, Vol. 20), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 89-110. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1571-5027(07)20004-X