Brands that use contemporary slang in their marketing to connect with younger consumers usually just embarrass themselves.

A new study from the Tippie College of Business finds consumers tend to see a brand’s use of slang as inauthentic and a violation of their general expectations of brand communications when it’s incongruent with the product’s character.

“More often than not, the use of slang backfires on the brand and they lose credibility, unless they have a specific brand personality that fits the use of the slang,” said Bryce Pyrah, a Tippie marketing doctoral student who worked on the study with Alice Wang, professor of marketing.

Researchers used a series of experiments to gauge consumer response to brand social media posts, some that used slang and some that didn’t. Posts included popular words and phrases from the last five years, like rizz, slap, bae, bougie, pop off, ghost, lit, and understands the assignment.

In one experiment, they looked at user engagement on posts from the energy drink Monster, which has an edgy brand personality, and Arizona Tea Co., which is more sincere. It found that when Arizona Tea used slang in posts, it generated fewer likes and retweets than usual. But when Monster used slang, it made little difference in engagement.

The study also used a series of online surveys asking participants to respond to the social media posts of numerous brands that were fictitious, so participants had no predetermined ideas about the products. Some posts used slang, some did not. In almost every instance, participants responded more negatively to those with slang than those without, even though they knew nothing about the brands. 

Another experiment using purchase behaviors with real money showed consumers were less likely to buy Chap Stik after seeing slang-laden social media posts for the product than they were after seeing posts without slang. 

Pyrah said marketing that uses slang fares poorly because people who use slang see the language as their own and resent companies using it to make money. 

Wang said the findings were consistent through age groups, so all consumers found the use of slang inauthentic and failed to connect with it, with the exception of already edgy brands. 

The study found, though, that consumers tend to be okay with slang in ads from influencers. For instance, in one experiment, participants looked at social media posts from Peloton and those from influencers talking about Peloton. They were more forgiving for slang when it came from the influencers than from the corporate accounts. 

The takeaway? 

Brands should avoid trying to sound hip in ads, especially when a brand is relatively unknown or it doesn’t fit its brand personality, said Pyrah, who graduates this spring and will join the faculty of the University of Minnesota. 

The study, “The Slang Paradox: Connecting or Disconnecting with Consumers,” will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Marketing Research. 

Media contact: Tom Snee, 319-384-0010 (o); 319-541-8434 (c); tom-snee@uiowa.edu