With information so easily available on the Internet consumers can definitely be very educated before making a purchase versus way back when everyone mostly relied on commercials and product placements. Those are obviously paid for by the business so it is clearly biased to show only the good side of the company.
This got me thinking as recently there was a company that was releasing a product which seemed on paper to be great for the consumer. It seemed like it had good quality products at a fantastic price. Yet when it came to announcing the product they got a lot of hate from consumers. What could have gone wrong huh?
Apparently this release was a reaction to the competition that is coming out with another product which competes with the company and people want it to succeed in a sense to promote competition. So when they see that the company coincidentally announces this product now they see it as the evil giant corporation trying to squash all competition route. So with that in mind, consumers understood the business tactic and were going against it.
It does surprise me when companies still think the consumer is that “dumb” per se as if they have no clue about these kinds of things. Consistency matters when it comes to how a business conducts itself.