Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

What's important to understand about attribute framing is that it's entirely irrational and easily bleeds into stupid decision making.

Taking the soap example, consumers might favor soap sold as "95% Pure" over soap sold as "Only 1% Impure" even though the latter is the superior product. That's why advertisers and marketers can (and do) use attribute framing to create preference for inferior products.

So here's the kicker. The study unexpectedly revealed that male great apes were more susceptible to attribute framing than females. In other words, men are more likely than women to make an irrational (i.e. dumb) decision based upon attribute framing....