Image repair in a food health crisis: an experimental analysis of image restoration message strategies

This study focuses on finding the most effective message strategies in a food crisis context. The influences of image repair message strategies and product involvement on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) toward the product category and the specific corporate brand were examined. A laboratory experiment was conducted with 299 undergraduates, and an accidental contamination of the largest milk-producing dairy in the United States was designed for a crisis situation. The study produced mixed results. The key finding is that message strategies help to increase normative beliefs and the subjective norm both toward drinking milk and toward drinking Brand A milk. Furthermore, depending on the type of message strategies, in the case of behavior at the brand specific level, other components also increased. The results imply that during such a crisis, how companies respond to the crisis will be very important not only for the product but also, more importantly, for the companies.