Anti-Vax Subculture Research
This is the result of a semester long project. The assignment was to research a subculture of people and find out everything about them in the context of consumer research.
Objective
As a group of strategists, we were tasked with researching and unpacking everything about a subculture in our society. My group selected Anti-Vaxxers. Anti-vaxxers are a group of people who have been broadly painted with a single stroke.
Methodology
When we began our research, figuring out who we would focus on was an unusual task. Anti-vaxxers aren’t easy to find.
We did preliminary research to determine the best channels for information. Our first step was developing and implementing a comprehensive survey to send out to get a general idea of what the public perception of anti-vaxxers was.
We established 3 main questions that we would use to guide the rest of our research:
1. Why did they choose to not vaccinate?
2. How have their personal beliefs affected vaccination decisions?
3. What is the broad medical view of an anti-vaxxer?
We primarily used social media and personal contacts for our research. Almost everyone in the group knew someone who had an unusual story regarding vaccines.
Online, we dove into forums, groups and pages pertaining to vaccinations (Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter). To get a better sample size, we eventually had to expand to pages geared towards alternative medicines and government watchdogs.
Insights
1. Parents choose to protect their children’s health any way they can.
2. Distrust in drug manufacturing isn’t limited to vaccines.
3. Vaccinating parents see unvaccinated children as a threat to their children’s health.
4. Money isn’t the deciding factor for vaccinations, the parents are.
5. Fear is perceived as a different monster in each anti-vaxxer’s eyes.
