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    Calculators for Women: When Identity Appeals Provoke Backlash
    07 Mar 2019Working Paper Summaries

    Calculators for Women: When Identity Appeals Provoke Backlash

    by Tami Kim, Kate Barasz, Leslie John, and Michael Norton
    With calculators targeted to women and laundry products aimed at men, examples of identity-based labeling—or “identity appeals”—abound in advertising and marketing. Five studies show when and why such identity appeals backfire. Identity appeals may fail equally whether they evoke negative or just milder stereotypes.
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    Author Abstract

    From “Chick Beer” to “Dryer sheets for Men,” identity-based labeling is frequently deployed to appeal to people who hold the targeted identity. However, five studies demonstrate that identity appeals can backfire, alienating the very individuals they aim to attract. We begin by demonstrating backlash against identity appeals in the field during the 2016 presidential election (Study 1) and in the lab (Study 2). This (in)effectiveness of identity appeals is driven by categorization threat—feeling unwillingly reduced to a single identity—which is induced when a) the identity deployed is that of a typically marginalized group (Studies 3-4) and b) the appeal evokes a stereotype about that identity (Study 5). Ironically, identity appeals often drive identity-holders away from options they would have preferred in the absence of that appeal.

    Paper Information

    • Full Working Paper Text
    • Working Paper Publication Date: February 2019
    • HBS Working Paper Number: HBS Working Paper #19-086
    • Faculty Unit(s): Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
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    Leslie K. John
    Leslie K. John
    Professor of Business Administration
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    Michael I. Norton
    Michael I. Norton
    Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration
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