'If You Don't Like Dark Roast, This Isn't the Coffee for You': How Exclusionary Ads Can Win Over the Right Customers

"Marketers spend billions trying to persuade consumers that a product is right for them. But our research shows that sometimes the most effective way to market something is to say that it isn't for them. In other words, effective marketing can mean discouraging the wrong customers rather than convincing everyone to buy."

"We ran experiments comparing ads with dissuasive versus persuasive framing. For example, one coffee ad said, "If you like dark roast, this is the coffee for you." Another said, "If you don't like dark roast, this isn't the coffee for you." Most marketers assume the first version would work better. But for people who prefer dark roast, the second message outperformed it."

"Across different products, from salsa to mattresses, and in a real Facebook campaign for a toothbrush brand, we consistently saw the same results. The dissuasive ad drove more engagement and clicks, making the brand feel more specialized and its product more appealing for the right customers."

Marketing research reveals that companies can increase product appeal by explicitly discouraging wrong customers rather than attempting universal persuasion. This strategy, called dissuasive framing, involves stating upfront who a product may not suit. Experiments comparing dissuasive versus persuasive advertising across multiple products—including coffee, salsa, mattresses, and toothbrushes—consistently demonstrated that dissuasive messaging outperformed traditional approaches. When ads stated "if you don't like dark roast, this isn't for you" rather than "if you like dark roast, this is for you," target customers showed greater engagement and clicks. The dissuasive approach makes brands feel more specialized and products more appealing to appropriate customers, contrary to conventional marketing assumptions that universal persuasion works best.

Read at Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine