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This research examines the dark side of influencer marketing, specifically wellness influencers’ exploitation of vaccine misinformation for personal financial gain. It assesses the effectiveness of various misinformation intervention strategies—misinformation labels, expert corrections, and their combination—in reducing misinformation beliefs and subsequent influencer evaluations, thereby diminishing future endorsement effectiveness across different pre-existing vaccine schemas (anti-vaxxer vs. pro-vaxxer). Results from two experiments show that misinformation labels significantly reduce perceived credibility of misinformation among pro-vaxxers, leading to negative evaluations of an influencer’s ethics, decreased attitudes and purchase intentions towards the endorsed brand. However, these labels fail to sway anti-vaxxers (Study 1). A combined intervention strategy proves most effective for anti-vaxxers, highlighting the need for tailored intervention strategies and the add-on of expert corrections (Study 2). This research contributes to the influencer marketing literature by advocating for ethical influencer practices to reduce the harm of monetized misinformation.
Xie et al. (Thu,) studied this question.