Consumers Punish Corporations When They Overstep Boundaries

Though many corporations and marketers may experience the desire to make prospective customers feel included in their so-called families, a new study suggests that being overly familiar with people could have poor commercial results.

Apparently, people have a natural tendency to react negatively when corporations overstep their boundaries, and get up in their faces. Specific language used to portray brands as close partners with consumers is not welcome among the latter, and tends to push them away, e! Science News reports.

“Our research shows that seemingly inconsequential changes, as subtle as using 'we' versus 'you and the brand,' can have both positive and negative effects on people's evaluations of real-world brands with which they have working relationships,” American researchers write in a new study.

The investigation, carried out by experts at the University of Florida, the Stanford University, and the Koç University, in Turkey, is detailed in the latest issue of the esteemed Journal of Consumer Research.