Negative Comparative Advertising: Evidence Favoring Fine-Tuning

Abstract Abstract This study tested in the context of branded products a set of hypotheses derived from theory in political science concerning negative advertising messages: those that unfavorably compare Brand B with Brand A. We expected and found that the most favorably-rated message contains negative elements, and that any negative comparison is perceived differently by users of Brand B., users of A., users of a third brand and users of multiple brands. Two other expectations were also supported. Responses are more favorable to a message simply denigrating product features of a rival brand vs. a message smearing a corporation. Also, all ratings do not differ in the same way when one contrasts responses to negative comparative messages with responses to messages that are simply brand comparisons.