The marketing law of candor: Admitting a negative so it becomes a positive.

When brands admit a negative about their product, their customers might end up seeing it as a positive. 

This idea is called the law of candor in the book “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.”

When Scope came out with good tasting mouthwash, Listerine could’ve argued that their mouthwash really wasn’t that bad tasting. But that only invites skepticism. Instead, Listerine embraced candor and launched a campaign with the message “the taste you hate twice a day.” They admitted that people hated their product! Since Listerine tastes like disinfectant, people rationalized that Listerine's bad taste must be great at killing germs. The messaging worked.

Spirit Airlines is the airline that everyone loves to hate. It always delivers on its promise of low fares, even if that means pissing people off in the process. And it’s worked: Spirit’s operating margin is consistently above the industry margin of 15% (peaking at 24% in 2015). Yet its negative reputation sticks: in 2015, 69% of Spirit-related Tweets were negative.

In 2014, Spirit launched a campaign called “Unleash That Hate.” While people loved Spirit’s low fares, they hated just about everything else about the airline from the hidden fees to the crappy customer service. In the campaign, people could submit angry tweets directed towards Spirit for a chance to win 8,000 miles (or h8thousand as Spirit called it). At the same time, the candid campaign explained that what makes customers angry is what keeps fares low so “you just might learn to love us.” 

This campaign worked because the negative was something universally believed. Spirit’s “got some hate?” question triggered instant agreement in their customers’ minds. It would only cause confusion if it wasn’t relatable to everyone. Second, the campaign quickly turned the focus to the positive; it showed the benefit behind people’s frustrations: 40% lower prices than other airlines. Finally, the airline was being honest. People respect honesty, especially when it's coming from a company in an industry that isn’t known for it. 

Spirit’s 2014 “Got Some Hate?” campaign embraced candor so its customers would view a negative as a positive.