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Think of the political implications...--Dictynna

New study shows that 'positive framing' makes consumers less biased

While these messages seem only subtly unlike, they cause consumers to focus on different pieces of product information, according to a new study in the June issue of the Journal of Consumer Research. That's because one employs "positive framing" – focusing on the superiority of one brand over another – while the other highlights how the competitor's product is not as good , or "negative framing."

"Developing a richer, more complete understanding of the moderating role of message framing is important, not only in the comparative ad domain, but also in the broader context of information processing," explain Anne Roggeveen (Babson College), Dhruv Grewal (Babson College), and Gerry Gotlieb (Western Kentucky University). "We tested the moderating impact of framing in a variety of situations and find results which can consistently be explained by the fact that the positive frame engenders more thorough analysis of message cues than negative frames."