Abstract
Purpose: investigate the offensiveness of controversial products in Brazil, especially the influence of the field of study. Design/methodology/approach: a questionnaire with 11 controversial products was conventionally answered by a sample of 368 college students from the three most popular fields of study in Brazil (i.e. Human Sciences, Biological and Health Sciences, and Exact and Technological Sciences). The offensiveness of each controversial product was measured and compared across those fields of study through t-tests. Findings: Controversial products did not easily offend respondents being guns, weight-loss medicine, and female underwear the most offensive ones. In general, students of Human Sciences are the most easily offended and those of Exact and Technological Sciences the least offended. In addition, results showed differences and similarities between people from each field of study. Originality/value: Improvement of our knowledge about controversial products in Brazil, especially about the influence of the field of study in the offensiveness of controversial products.
Highlights
During the marketing communication process, companies always seek effective ways to deliver their messages without causing any negative feelings; there is special care for advertisements not to produce undesired effects, with their decency being a matter of social responsibility that always generate concerns for companies (Shao, 1993).there are products, services, or concepts that can cause unwanted sensations in people, leading ads involving them to provoke discomfort, disgust, outrage, and offense (Wilson & West, 1981), with related advertising being constantly banned by governments, companies, and self-regulation (Shao & Hill, 1994; Boddewyn, 1991; Google, 2019)
Conducting studies about controversial products is important because it helps companies in the development of global promotion strategies, the development of creative ways to communicate a message without generating offense, and the growth of new media (Waller et al, 2005)
Since we did not know any other study about controversial products in Brazil, we first investigated which controversial products had already been researched in previous studies to check their suitability with this study
Summary
During the marketing communication process, companies always seek effective ways to deliver their messages without causing any negative feelings; there is special care for advertisements not to produce undesired effects, with their decency being a matter of social responsibility that always generate concerns for companies (Shao, 1993).there are products, services, or concepts that can cause unwanted sensations in people, leading ads involving them to provoke discomfort, disgust, outrage, and offense (Wilson & West, 1981), with related advertising being constantly banned by governments, companies, and self-regulation (Shao & Hill, 1994; Boddewyn, 1991; Google, 2019). Conducting studies about controversial products is important because it helps companies in the development of global promotion strategies, the development of creative ways to communicate a message without generating offense, and the growth of new media (Waller et al, 2005). The fact that people are becoming more aware of some products makes studies about them even more necessary. Players such as advertising designers benefit by developing an understanding of what some people perceive as offensive (Waller, 1999)
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