Boomerang effect of a negative campaign - a case study from the market of beverages

Negative campaigning or “mudslinging” is a technique to win an advantage by referring to negative aspects of a competitor rather than emphasizing one’s own positive attributes (Wikipedia, 2016). It is well known in politics, but “dirty tricks” can be adopted trying to improve one’s position on a welldefined market. Our paper introduces a case study of a negative campaign which targeted the largest national soft drink producer of Angola, Refriango. Nine weeks after the outbreak of an SMS campaign of a suspected contamination of its products, we asked 500 people to fill in a questionnaire with the aim to measure the effects of the attack on consumer behaviour. Our results have shown that the unidentified attacker managed to provoke uncertainty among consumers. Nevertheless, by denying the allegations and using a rapid remedial campaign, the attacked firm succeeded in restoring its image and position on the market Above all these, by becoming known among wider range of the population, they could even increase the number of their consumers. We could demonstrate the boomerang effect of the negative campaign.