Disasters sometimes cause avoidant purchasing in consumers. The avoidance is associated with negative attitudes based on affect. This study examined the effects of persuasive messages aimed at reducing avoidant purchasing after the Tohoku earthquake, focusing on the affective-cognitive persuasion matching effect. In Phase 1, 113 university students were presented with one of four positive messages (affective, cognitive, combination, or control) about the products of Fukushima. To measure the attitudes toward the products, participants completed the questionnaires before and after the messages were presented. In Phase 2, a SC-IAT was conducted to investigate the implicit attitudes. The results showed that the effects of persuasion were statistically significant in the cognitive and combination conditions. D-scores of the IAT were significant and positive for all conditions except the affective condition. These results suggest that in the practical intervention, cognitive messages are more effective than affective messages, irrespective of a matching effect.