Envy in advertising is counterproductive
Advertisers who stir up envy in ads risk driving their customers away to competing brands. This is the conclusion reached by the Cass Business School of the University of London in a recent study conducted in cooperation with the São Paulo School of Business Administration. According to the study, envy as an advertising strategy can trigger negative brand associations among consumers, thus driving them away, and should therefore be used with caution.
According to the Cass Business School, international brand giants such as BMW or Calvin Klein use the envy factor to a large extent in calculated advertising campaigns to make their products appear more desirable and to increase the need for them. Envy serves as a tactic to encourage customers to achieve personal goals through the purchase of products, be it more beauty, health or status. The study "(Un)deservingness distinctions impact envy subtypes implications" was published in the Journal of Business Research published.
The team analyzed the issue with nearly 2,000 study participants in Brazil and conducted studies in three settings: a job selection process, a doctoral competition, and an academic exchange program. They examined the impact of personal merit and controllability on malicious envy. The effect of disliking a competitor on the extent of perceived envy was also examined. This was applied to consumer behavior.
Malicious envy harms
Malicious envy occurs among participants when, in their view, a competitor got something he didn't deserve, according to the results. For example, if he was seen as lazy and still got a place at university. Malicious envy can consequently also cause negative feelings in consumers toward a brand and damage the relationship between company and consumer.
"The key to using envy successfully in marketing campaigns is to understand whether the campaign triggers harmless or malicious envy," explains co-author Kirla Ferreira of Cass Business School. She advises marketers to focus on sympathetic identification figures in such ads rather than controversial celebrities. In addition, the impression should be conveyed that someone who receives something has also earned it in a fair competition. (pte)
