Navigating Public Opinion: The Importance of Testing Language to Avoid Branding Backlash
Exploring how nuances in messaging influence consumer attitudes and buying decisions
If we have learned anything about public opinion in recent years, it’s that the language and nuance we use matters. Whether it’s “Obamacare” instead of “The Affordable Care Act” or “AI” versus “automated learning,” certain words and phrases take on a positive or negative connotation in the cultural lexicon—even if they’re describing the same thing.
This matters for brands and businesses that need to walk a delicate tightrope between showcasing their values in a way that strengthens their brand and not alienating large portions of their customers (or potential customers) based on idolized or demonized talking points. You may think, why not just remain neutral and risk alienating anyone in the first place?
According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, 64% of consumers feel that businesses should take a position on societal and political issues. This aligns with the 65% of respondents who said they prefer to buy from brands aligned with their personal views in a recent Grow Progress Audience Understanding Survey.
Results of a 600-person survey Grow Progress ran on purchasing preferences in January 2025.
This has recently become evident in Costco’s public decision to oppose the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle DEI initiatives in the federal and private sectors. Given that most consumers want to buy from businesses that take a stance, we at Grow Progress wanted to measure the effectiveness of different nuanced messages regarding Costco’s ongoing support of DEI initiatives.
How We Tested
We tested four messages:
- “Rejecting Trump” explicitly calls out Costco’s rejection of President Trump’s DEI executive order.
- “Diverse Workforce” states that a diverse workforce creates a better environment for customers and employees.
- We also tested two variations of the same message that states a diverse workforce leads to better financial performance and decision making:
- “Better for Businesses w/DEI” uses the phrase “DEI”
- “Better for Businesses w/out DEI” uses the phrase diverse workforce instead of DEI
The messages were tested using our Rapid Message Test tool, which uses randomized controlled trials (RCTs)—the premier standard in message testing modeled on medical trials.
First, an audience of 3,000 US adults was recruited. Then they were randomly split into one of five groups. Each group viewed one message (one of the four mentioned above, or a placebo message) and answered the same three questions. In less than 24 hours we had the following results.
The Toplines
We measured how the messages affected consumers’ opinions of Costco, their likelihood of shopping there in the next 30 days, and their agreement with Costco’s values. Before seeing any of the messages, 57% of people reported having a favorable opinion of Costco. That is the baseline we use to compare the effect of each message.
Topline results of how the different messages affected consumer opinions of Costco.
Overall, the Diverse Workforce message was the most effective at moving respondents toward the desired outcome to make people feel more favorable toward Costco. In particular, it increased respondents’ agreement that Costco’s values match their by six percentage points.
On the other hand, the Better for Businesses w/DEI message generated backlash in brand favorability, moving respondents away from our desired outcomes by nine percentage points. Interestingly, its sister message Better for Businesses w/out DEI, which said the same thing but used the phrase “diverse workforce” instead of “DEI”, not only didn’t result in backlash but was also likely to increase favorability.
The message of Rejecting Trump had no discernible effect. However, examining subgroups for key differences is important because what’s important at the topline may resonate differently among subgroups, like Men or 18-34 year olds.
Subgroup Analysis
Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Costco?
Sometimes, results seem neutral due to extreme reactions on opposite sides of the scale. The overall message of Rejecting Trump had no effect, but it moved Republicans away from Costco favorability by 18 percentage points, and moved Democrats toward favorability by 10 percentage points. Another interesting outcome is Better for Businesses with DEI. It’s be easy to assume that Democrats would be attracted to a message explicitly mentioning DEI, but they weren’t as their results showed no measurable effect. Worse, this indicates that mentioning DEI creates a huge backlash among Republicans, so choosing this message would have offended a large swath of people with no gain on the opposite side of the political spectrum.
Looking at Better for Businesses w/out DEI, we see that changing “DEI” to “diverse workforce” drastically changes Republicans’ perceptions. The same message that received backlash almost across the board now receives no backlash and performs 12 percentage points better along 18-34 year olds.
The most effective message, which registered no backlash, is Diverse Workforce. All of these examples illustrate the potential pitfalls of making assumptions about what your audience would like without first understanding them—and the values that motivate their beliefs and decisions.
Purchase Intent
Although none of the messages significantly impacted respondents’ overall purchasing intent, a closer look at subgroup results reveals opportunities.
If Costco wanted to create a campaign targeted at young people, they have two solid messaging options: Diverse Workforce and Better for Businesses without DEI. Likewise, if Costco wanted to speak directly to women, the Diverse Workforce message would be the most effective. Costco might consider using the Better for Business with DEI to talk with women because this evidence shows it’s likely effective, but would need to be cautious given the backlash among men.
Values Alignment
The final metric we tracked in this test was whether participants thought Costco’s values aligned with theirs. For a broad audience, the Diverse Workforce message successfully positions Costco as a company aligned with most consumers’ values.
The other messages will likely alienate Republican consumers based on their demonstrated backlash. Considering our previous questions, while we don’t see strong evidence that any of the messages strongly affected purchase intent in this test, we know from the beginning that consumers would prefer to purchase from brands that align with their views.
Conclusion
Knowing that most people prefer to buy from brands aligned with their politics and values, research can help identify messaging that speaks to their values without creating backlash regardless of whether their personal politics are liberal or conservative.
This test shows us that messages that explicitly or overtly reference political hot buttons (like DEI) perform poorly. Small changes in presentation, however, such as a simple switch from saying DEI to “diverse workforce,” can dramatically improve reception across the aisle, driving more users to shop down yours.
Ready to find the messaging that resonates with your audiences? Learn more about Grow Progress’ Rapid Message Testing, and be sure to sign up for our newsletter and never miss a beat.
