Products such as tampons, adult diapers, and plus-sized clothes are considered stigmatized because of their association with certain stigmatized phenomena (e.g., menstruation, incontinence, obesity). Brands often struggle to figure out the most appropriate advertising approach to promote such products. This research shows that consumers respond unfavorably to brands that leverage the prevalent social norms around these products by positioning their product as a solution to the problem of public revelation of the consumer’s stigmatized attribute. In contrast, brands that actively try to disrupt the prevalent stigma around these products and brands that do not explicitly discuss the stigma in their advertising elicit more favorable/persuasive responses from consumers.
Co-author(s): Jayant Nasa, Prakash Satyavageeswaran, and Rajesh Nanarpuzha
Journal: Journal of Business Research
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