Information-Seeking Outcomes of Representational, Structural, and Political Intersectionality Among Health Media Consumers

Jennifer Vardeman-Winter, Hua Jiang, Natalie T.J. Tindall

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

Although the segmentation of publics is a standard practice in public relations programming, practitioners face challenges in using traditional approaches to identify and engage vastly different publics. Responding to the need for new approaches that consider global, cultural, and technological trends in consumer publics, this study provides evidence to a proposed intersectional approach to the segmentation of publics. Thirty-one women of different racial, socioeconomic, age, and relationship backgrounds were interviewed to explore how they perceived their multiple, overlapping identities influence their health decision making. Findings suggest that publics experience co-occurring oppression and privilege in varying contexts: in representations of them, in policies that affect them, and in structures that enable or hinder their ability to improve their health. The findings suggest that intersecting social structures shape disparate health public relations, intersecting policies widen the policymaker-public gap, and intersecting representations reflect a paradox of segmentation.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)389-411
Number of pages23
JournalJournal of Applied Communication Research
Volume41
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2013

Keywords

  • Health Campaigns
  • Public Relations
  • Publics' Identity
  • Qualitative
  • Segmentation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Communication
  • Language and Linguistics

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