Why controversy sells

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The show that delves deep into the roots of human and brand behaviour. View All Podcasts Here. Controversy sells. What am I talking about? Those who stand for nothing will fall for everything, they say… whoever they are. So, this is what Jack and I think: we want to run Quoyle' s wrong- headed oil spills story because controversy sells papers and papers sells ads. So, this is what Jack and I think: we want to run Quoyle' s wrong-headed oil spills story because controversy sells papers and papers sells ads.

Common crawl. Since , Aarhus University owned Cheminova, a chemical manufacturer who among other controversies has been selling methyl parathion pesticide to Brazil farmers.

Some social media users drew a connection between the security breach and the recent controversial proposal to sell the Australian Port of Darwin to a Chinese company. However, for some time now, concerns have been expressed that the Kremlin and the , so-called men of power close to President Putin, have been attempting to restrict freedom of the media and NGOs, in particular, where it was felt that they were interfering with Russian strategic interests, such as the bloody conflict in Chechnya, or the strategy of reversing some of the controversial sell -offs of the oil and gas sector in the early s in order to increase the patronage of the state.

In , senior researcher Mette Jensen emailed her colleagues at AU, asking whether they thought Cheminova should stop selling the controversial pesticides. Rolling Stone magazine sparked a heated debate and fame after it put Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on its cover. Mountain Dew pulled an ad after people complained it was racist and JC Penney took down a billboard after a social media firestorm suggested the kettle on it looked like Hitler.

But can controversy be good for business? Does it boost buzz? Might it increase sales? Controversy does two things. First, controversy makes things more interesting to talk about. The different sides get to air their views and the debate can encourage conversation. At the same time, however, controversy also generates discomfort. Ever tried to talk about abortion at a crowded party?

Probably not. People care what others think of them, so they may avoid talking about highly controversial things to avoid rubbing others the wrong way. So what does that mean for controversy and conversation? Well, our research shows that some controversy boosts buzz, but too much reduces it.