Research Project: Bunch of Jerks - How Brands Can Benefit By Reappropriating Insults

Brand Analysis
Crisis Management
Consumer Insights
Social Meda

Research Overview:

The Ask: Can brands successfully recover from negative events or press by re-appropriating insults?

Re-appropriating: the intentional act of verbatim self-labeling with an externally imposed negative label

The Hypothesis: Consumers who observe a brand appropriating certain types of negative labels (such as insults) will perceive the brand to be more humorous & confident, which heightens consumer evaluations of the brand compared to other common strategies like ignoring, denying, or accommodating.

Methodology & Findings:

Study 1 Study 2 Study 3
REAPPROPRIATION BOOSTS CLICK-THROUGH RATES (CTR) VS. DENIAL REAPPROPRIATION VS. IGNORING, DENIAL & ACCOMODATING MODERATION BY VULNERABILITY OF INSULTER

  • Facebook users were shown advertisements featuring reappropriation OR denial of insult

  • A/B Testing on Facebook & measured # of clicks & impressions

  • Users can click to “Learn More”

  • 3 versions of responses to a user calling @MTV “overly dramatic”

    • CONTROL - Brand ignores

    • DENIAL - Brand stated they are not overly dramatic & “popular shows get a ton of positive reviews”

    • ACCOMMODATION - Brand apologized & invited user to share more concerns

    • REAPPROPRIATION - Brand posted a photo of a water bottle including the phrase “overly dramatic”

  • Participants saw a social media profile for a young man (Patrick) or an elderly woman (Patricia) who insulted Vitamin Water, calling it “ew”

    • CONTROL - Brand ignores

    • REAPPROPRIATE - Vitamin Water responds back with a direct quote from the insulter “ew” above a product image
Findings Findings Findings
The ad in which the brand reappropriated the insult elicited a greater click-through rate than the ad in which the brand denied the insult.

  • Participants in the reappropriation condition perceived the brand as more confident versus the ignore and accommodation conditions.

  • Participants perceived the brand as equally confident in the reappropriation and denial conditions

  • ATTITUDE: Benefit to reappropriating with a vulnerable insulter but no benefit when the insulter was from a vulnerable group.

  • HUMOR: The brand was perceived to be more humorous when it reappropriated

  • CONFIDENCE: The brand was perceived to be more confident when it reappropriated rather than ignored.

  • BULLY: The brand seemed like a bully when it reappropriated versus ignored the insult from the elderly woman but not from the young man.

Recommendations:

1. Have a dedicated team/time for social monitoring across all channels

  • It should be the priority to not only retain your existing consumer base, but tackle and respond to controversies with efficiency

  • keep your brand voice consistent in all messaging if you embrace a new campaign

2. Invest in qualitative research (focus groups, interviews, surveys)

  • really get a sense of how your brand exists subconsciously in people’s minds

  • measuring brand awareness