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CUSTOMERS

Why Consumers Rebel Against

Slogans by Juliano Laran, Amy N. Dalton, and Eduardo B. Andrade

FROM THE NOVEMBER 2011 ISSUE

B

Logos Can Be Tricky, Too

Bigger isn’t always better. Unsurprisingly, consumers of low-end goods favor unobtrusive logos—but so do many

rand names, logos, and slogans are integral parts of any company’s marketing

message. All have the same aim: to make consumers react positively to a product or

a business.

Our research shows, however, that many slogans backfire—for example, causing consumers

to spend money when they’re told they can save, or vice versa.

In five studies of several hundred undergraduates each, in which computers were used to

simulate shopping behavior, we found that consumers typically follow the prompt of a brand

name or a logo. After participants were exposed to brands associated with luxury (such as

Tiffany and Neiman Marcus), they decided to spend 26% more, on average, than after they

were exposed to neutral brands (such as Publix and Dillard’s). After they were exposed to

brands associated with saving money (such as Dollar Store and Kmart), they decided to spend

37% less than after they were exposed to neutral brands. The brands had the intended

“priming” effect.

But when it came to slogans, the same

participants exhibited the opposite of the

desired behavior. After reading a slogan meant

consumers of ultra-high-end goods, who prefer to send a quiet signal to others in the know.

Source: Jonah Berger and Morgan Ward, “Subtle Signals of Inconspicuous Consumption,” Journal of Consumer Research

to incite spending (“Luxury, you deserve it”),

they decided to spend 26% less than after

reading a neutral slogan (“Time is what you

make of it”). When a slogan invited them to

save (“Dress for less”), they decided to spend—

an additional 29%, on average. The slogans

had a “reverse priming” effect.

In many cases, then, brands and slogans work

at cross-purposes. For example, the name

Walmart tends to induce thriftiness, but the

company’s slogan (“Save money. Live better”) causes indulgence.

What makes slogans so different? Our studies suggest that reverse priming occurs because

consumers recognize that slogans deliberately attempt to persuade them, whereas (in their

perception) brands do not. The recognition may not be conscious: We found that consumers

automatically resisted a slogan’s message.

There’s actually good news here for marketers, who need not simply abandon slogans for fear

of adverse reactions. Slogans can exert a positive influence, we believe, if the consumer is led

to focus on something other than the effort to persuade. To test this theory, we asked one

group of participants to rate a set of slogans on the basis of intent to persuade, while a second

group rated them on creativity. The group that evaluated creativity decided to spend 58%

more than the other group. Of course, getting consumers to focus on creativity instead of

persuasion may be easier in a lab setting than in real-world marketing.

More research is needed to understand why consumers perceive certain tactics as efforts to

persuade. In the meantime, marketers should be aware that messages seen even

subconsciously as manipulative can cause significant backlash.

A version of this article appeared in the November 2011 issue of Harvard Business Review.