Did your ad lie? Don’t apologize just yet.

There’s a recent study out of Canada which suggests a brand trying to correct or otherwise explain a false claim it made may be doing more harm to the entire category it’s in. So let’s say McDonald’s runs an ad claiming it has less fat than a Subway sandwich. Subsequently, the ad is proven wrong. McD’s shouldn’t then try an explain it away because people will have a more negative perception of Wendy’s and Taco Bell? Hmmm. Not really not sure I buy into that.

If anything, I would tend to think people would get more upset if a brand didn’t come clean.

Don’t people already have their mind made up about categories? I don’t see how that changes. People already ‘know’ what they believe: Car dealers are all out to rip them off. All fast food is fattening. Drinking (brand X) always gets you chicks. All cell phone providers screw you on early termination fees. Every airline lies about on-time performance.

And so on.

Now, maybe people subconsciously create these negative vibes about certain industries, but for me, nothing a brand has done either in its claims or product failure has made me swear off the category, let alone have bad feelings about that brand’s competition. People will choose whatever product helps them do whatever it is they need done.

I really doubt a price discrepancy between a brand’s website and their in-store circular does jack when it comes to public perception. Here are a few examples that come to mind where a few major mea culpas weren’t enough to torpedo the category they were in. Like...

1) Tylenol. Remember the product tampering scare years ago where people were poisoned and died? People reached for the Excedrin instead.

2) New Coke. Old Coke was replaced by New Coke and then went back to ... Old Coke. I was a Pepsi dude long before so I could care less. Regardless, I tried the ‘New’ flavor when it came out just to see. Even though I hated the new flavor, I had no better or worse opinion of the soda industry in general after.

3) Union Carbide. The disaster in Bhopal, India killed nearly 20,000 people. Result? Energizer bunny ... still going.

4) Exxon Valdez. You’re not pissed at all the oil companies because an Exxon tanker ran aground—you’re pissed at high prices.

Agree, disagree?*

(Image via.)


*Lawers said I needed to add more call to action statements in blog posts, otherwise, people might might claim they were mislead as to the degree of participation required of them, then I’d have to issue a correction so that one of you wouldn’t sue.