<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>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 only revealed downsides to negative press. Negative reviews or word-of-mouth, for example, have been found to harm product evaluations and sales. This research flashlight (page 50) considers this matter from a fresh perspective. The authors examine contexts in which negative publicity about a product will have positive or negative effects. </p>
</abstract>

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 only revealed downsides to negative press. Negative reviews or word-of-mouth, for example, have been found to harm product evaluations and sales. This research flashlight (page 50) considers this matter from a fresh perspective. The authors examine contexts in which negative publicity about a product will have positive or negative effects.

Common “Wisdom” Put to the Test: Bad News Can be Good News … Sometimes

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA

Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, USA

NIM Marketing Intelligence Review

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Can negative information about a product increase sales, and if so, when? Although popular wisdom suggests that “any publicity is good publicity”, prior...

Common “Wisdom” Put to the Test: Bad News Can be Good News … Sometimes

Published Online: Jul 19, 2014

Page range: 48 - 53

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/gfkmir-2014-0055

© 2014

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.