Cartoon-based Message Strategies on Vaccination in Romania and Engagement Behavior. A Multimodal Approach

Abstract

Humor has been employed by (inter)national authorities in order to simplify complex issues and to encourage behavioral changes toward certain health issues. Focusing our analysis on the cartoons employed by two Romanian authorities (The National Committee for Coordination of anti-COVID-19 Vaccination Activities, CNCAV, and The European Commission’s Representation in Romania), the aims of this study are threefold: to determine how Health Belief Model (HBM) constructs and humor resources were associated with online users’ online engagement behavior towards the cartoons on vaccination in Romania; to identify how multimodal modes were employed in the cartoons on COVID-19 vaccination; to determine how knowledge resources help in the interpretation of humor in the overper-forming multimodal cartoons. The exploratory analysis showed that self-efficacy was a salient HBM construct in the cartoons but it was less engaging than cues to action and perceived barriers. Various forms of puns and visual metaphors as humor resources prevailed and displayed the highest level of engagement. The qualitative analysis revealed that situational irony and Horatian satire, presented in a playful tone, were mainly targeted towards anti-vaxxers and the undecided. The study also showed that a cartoon-based communication strategy should combine generalized humorous situations with socio-cultural specificity.