Article ID: | iaor20107400 |
Volume: | 29 |
Issue: | 5 |
Start Page Number: | 815 |
End Page Number: | 827 |
Publication Date: | Sep 2010 |
Journal: | Marketing Science |
Authors: | Berger Jonah, Sorensen Alan T, Rasmussen Scott J |
Keywords: | marketing |
Can negative information about a product increase sales, and if so, when? Although popular wisdom suggests that ‘any publicity is good publicity,’ prior research has demonstrated only downsides to negative press. Negative reviews or word of mouth, for example, have been found to hurt product evaluation and sales. Using a combination of econometric analysis and experimental methods, we unify these perspectives to delineate contexts under which negative publicity about a product will have positive versus negative effects. Specifically, we argue that negative publicity can increase purchase likelihood and sales by increasing product awareness. Consequently, negative publicity should have differential effects on established versus unknown products. Three studies support this perspective. Whereas a negative review in the