Final answer:
Michelle is likely to process the message about the dangers of smoking along the peripheral route due to her bad mood, which aligns with this method's use of minimal effort and reliance on simple cues, rather than deep analytical processing.
Step-by-step explanation:
According to the text, if Michelle is in a bad mood when she reads an article about new research on the added dangers of smoking, she will most likely process the message along the peripheral route. This is because the peripheral route to persuasion does not require much effort or deep information processing, which is suitable for someone who may not be in a state of mind to engage analytically with the information, such as when one is in a bad mood.
The central route, on the other hand, requires the audience to be analytical and motivated, which is less likely to be the case for someone in a bad mood and is more effective when presenting products or arguments based on quality and factual data, such as a computer's features or a car's safety records. In Michelle's case, peripheral cues could associate smoking with negative characteristics to encourage a change in attitude toward smoking.