(Counter)marketing and misinformation: a cross-platform study

Espinoza, Armando; Piña-García, Carlos Adolfo Article (Counter)marketing and misinformation: a cross-platform study Cogent Business & Management Provided in Cooperation with: Taylor & Francis Group Suggested Citation: Espinoza, Armando; Piña-García, Carlos Adolfo (2024) : (Counter)marketing and misinformation: a cross-platform study, Cogent Business & Management, ISSN 2331-1975, Taylor & Francis, Abingdon, Vol. 11, Iss. 1, pp. 1-23, https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2398713 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/326543 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Cogent Business & Management ISSN: 2331-1975 (Online) Journal homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/oabm20 (Counter)marketing and misinformation: a crossplatform study Armando Espinoza & Carlos Adolfo Piña-García To cite this article: Armando Espinoza & Carlos Adolfo Piña-García (2024) (Counter)marketing and misinformation: a cross-platform study, Cogent Business & Management, 11:1, 2398713, DOI: 10.1080/23311975.2024.2398713 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2398713 © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group Published online: 04 Sep 2024. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 1282 View related articles View Crossmark data Citing articles: 1 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=oabm20 Marketing | research article Cogent Business & ManageMent 2024, VoL. 11, no. 1, 2398713 (Counter)marketing and misinformation: a cross-platform study armando espinoza and carlos adolfo Piña-garcía universidad Veracruzana, Mexico ABSTRACT Marketing faces challenges in the communication process while attempting to persuade the consumer, as external stimuli may influence the target consumer’s response, and in the digital age, audiences choose how to receive messages, even if they opt to do so. counter-marketing, the ‘dark side’, involves social engineering and should be seen as a new kind of massive manipulation, as fake reviews, on digital media, try to influence the perception of a product during the purchasing process, as consumers rely on these opinions. this study aims to understand the effects of counter-marketing strategies in the form of fake reviews (misinformation) and how they alter consumer behavior. We conducted a cross-platform study to understand if digital counter-marketing actions could affect a product’s perception. although conversations around the main search query were negative and the perception of smartphone 15 line-up may have been affected, we discovered that both sales and loyalty were not affected as a reflection of consumer behavior. Introduction On september 12, 2023, at the steve Jobs center in cupertino, california, the smartphone 15 lineup was presented, availability began on september 22, 2023 (apple, 2023b). eventually, a few days later, several (traditional) media reported an overheating issue on the brand-new smartphone 15 lineup. at first, allegedly, the problem was present in the pro-versions of the device, then it ‘spread’ to other models. a ‘traditional’ media claimed that the issue was due to a ‘bug’ in the software version 17 (knutsson, 2023). Other sources refer to the same software error on third party apps (Babu, 2023; kelly, 2023; Mccallum, 2023). the company was limited to acknowledging the matter and said that it would launch an update to fix software errors (apple, 2023c; liedtke, 2023; Phelan, 2023). however, the issue was not limited to traditional media such as digital editions of newspapers or tV. it spread into social media platforms and online forums where users referred to the matter as dangerous and even deadly, publishing content (posts) with images in reference to an emergency or fire. social media platforms have created new rules (singer & Brooking, 2018) for communications and, particularly, for the dark side of marketing: counter-marketing. For many customers, social media is an essential part of their social and ‘shopping’ lives. a large amount of content is produced daily and posted as authentic and fake products and brand reviews in forums, customer forums, bulletins, online communities, and shopping recommendations on social media platforms. customers now have more resources, such as social media posts, online reviews, ratings, and forums, for information, evaluation, and complaints thanks to this trend. nevertheless, consumers have greater trust in their peers’ opinions than in those of experts, marketing, or even brands themselves (lorenzo-romero et al., 2014). chevalier and Mayzlin (2006) agree that customers rely on online reviews not only as a source of information but as a substitute of other ‘traditional’ means such as ‘word-of-mouth’. © 2024 the author(s). Published by informa uK Limited, trading as taylor & Francis group CONTACT Carlos adolfo Piña-garcía [email protected] https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2398713 this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. the terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. ARTICLE HISTORY received 27 February 2024 revised 16 May 2024 accepted 12 august 2024 KEYWORDS Digital Marketing; Public Opinion; Misinformation; Fake reviews; artificial Manipulation JEL CLASSIFICATION CODES M31 SUBJECTS internet/Digital Marketing/e-Marketing; Marketing; consumer Behaviour; Marketing communications; Media, information & communication industries 2 a. esPinOZa anD c. a. PiÑa-garcÍa a marketing actor is in charge of creating a communication campaign, public relations strategies, product design, etc. each task is subject to fake accounts and/or bot attacks, which hurt marketing efforts, analytics, and the company’s economy (Drenik, 2023). the time frame from september 12 to October 12, 2023, was chosen because any problems found during the evaluation of alternatives and information search stages of the decision process were considered to directly affect the buyer’s decision, such as the presentation, launch, and availability of the smartphone 15 lineup. initial (bad) reviews from the first buyers of the product could persuade the consumer behavior tempering with the perception of the brand and/or value offer. this study aims to understand the effects of counter-marketing strategies in the form of fake reviews (misinformation) and how they attempt to alter consumer behavior. Marketing context several companies provide an online forum for users to review purchased products, qualifying the product on a star or point scale. however, only a few have implemented fraud-detection technologies to prevent user-generated fake reviews. the company does not have a review site. instead, it offers a support community forum to ‘learn about its products, new ways to enjoy them, and to share knowledge with the community’. a space where members feel comfortable asking and answering questions (apple, n.d.c). search engines have implemented tools to protect business reviews since 2021, when suspicious behavior was detected, and web-based and machine learning tools were used to post fake content, declaring that reviews should reflect real experiences (Mccluskey, 2022). there is what is considered the ‘dark side’ of marketing. negative strategies to work in opposition to promotion. hadnagy (2018) stated that social engineering works for all types of humans. With the right emotional trigger at the appropriate time, every consumer can become a victim. it is common to confuse the terms ‘influence’ and ‘manipulation’. hadnagy (2018) defines influence as ‘getting someone to want to do something you want them to do’. Manipulation is defined as ‘getting someone to do something you want them to do’. the difference is that manipulation generally does not include caring about a target’s feelings. in this particular research, we choose manipulation and persuasion as the variables of study because of the ‘aggressiveness’ of marketing countermeasure tactics. in addition to social media platforms, we also referred to online forums, search trends, and finance results to track the company ‘normal’ stock price changes (Fama, 1965) on the stock market. this was done with the intention of understanding the effects the smartphone as a value offer (product) and as a brand could endure the overheating issue related to the entire device lineup, particularly in the fourth quarter of 2023. there is literature (nys & engelen, 2023; Weinberger et al., 1981) based on theory that can help to understand and explain how the consumer behaves and how counter-marketing, through misinformation, fake news and reviews, could affect, modify, or manipulate the consumer’s perception and marketing efforts of a brand, product, or even a company, especially during the buyer decision process. specifically, we tried to understand if counter-marketing is intended to manipulate the perception and, ultimately, the consumer behavior of a brand or product. We posed the following research questions: rQ1: What techniques do counter-marketers use to manipulate consumer perceptions? rQ2: can counter-marketing persuade consumers to affect their behavior during the decision-making process? Theorical perspectives in addition, Machado et al. (2014), apple has had an experiential approach to marketing strategies to connect with its consumers. the company aims to amplify the essence of a product into experiences that may reinforce the value offered and trigger an emotional response from consumers. When an experience is positive and/or the consumer’s satisfaction exceeds expectations, it may become an advocate or cOgent Business & ManageMent 3 spokesperson for the product or brand (kotler et al., 2022). if a consumer is considered an advocate, it is because the experience has been rewarding and loyalty has increased for a long time. at that point, they hardly consider other alternatives or even search for information during the purchase process. in this case, they defend the brand against countermeasures such as reviews or news that could affect the product/brand image and perception, as consumer advocates are emotionally attached to the brand and possess a certain sense of ownership (Machado et al., 2014). Buyer decision process kotler et al. (2022) describe the buyer decision process for purchases as a five-stage model in Figure 1. the buyer is not required to go through each stage; they can skip ahead, stop at any point, or even ‘jump’ straight to the choice. in addition to product use and disposal considerations, it is a psychological process that aims to comprehend consumer behavior in terms of what, how, when, where, who, or what influences purchase decisions. external factors, during the evaluation of alternatives or information search stages, may compromise influencing the future purchase and/or post-purchase behavior, which in the case of the present article may refer to altering the physical perception of the product. in addition to cultural motives, social factors (status, reference groups, family, etc.) must be addressed to comprehend how external influences directly impact a purchasing choice or alter attitudes about a product or company. according to kotler et al. (2022), reference groups affect an individual’s attitudes and behavior. those who provide product recommendations and usage advice are referred to as ‘opinion leaders’. Persuasion, manipulation and influence Persuasion is a branch of communication that influences other people. according to Jowett and O’Donnell (2018), it is a complex, interactive and continuous process in which the persuader attempts to influence the persuaded person to modify their opinion, attitude or behavior, resulting in a change in perception of the ‘victim’, or audience (group of consumers). When persuasive efforts are successful, the persuaded person is left surprised. Persuaders attempt to modify beliefs, values, attitudes, behaviors, groups of norms, and resonance. Jowett and O’Donnell (2018) state that belief is a perceived relationship between two fundamental aspects of an individual. to persuade a belief, a persuader must build a new one using an old belief. a Value is a guideline for consumer behavior. it is a special belief that the modification is difficult. attitude is a reaction to the assessment of a concept, item, or communication. a person will naturally develop an attitude about a brand or product if they have a belief in it. a change in attitude is the persuader’s desired response. On the other hand, consumer behavior may present patterns used as anchors to predict future behavior. From there, a persuader may introduce new information about how to behave (Bandura, 1986). according to aral (2020), companies, products, brands, and agencies rely on a process called integrated digital marketing (iDM) to accomplish large-scale behavioral changes or mass persuasion. Digital marketing depends on diverse channels: social, search, display, and mobile advertising. each channel Figure 1. external influence During the Buyer Decision Process (Purchase). Source: Kotler et al. (2022). 4 a. esPinOZa anD c. a. PiÑa-garcÍa belongs to a different objective, target audience, and moment. search advertising, for purposes of the present research, should be to consumers who are in the search for information and evaluation of alternatives, as the other channels (mobile, social, and display) are designed to create awareness and/or support the message. the iDM process is used with the intention of manipulating the flow of massive marketing communication or agenda. as in the early stages of information searching and evaluation of alternatives during the buyer decision process, noise and counter communications (fake reviews) can persuade consumer behavior and, ultimately, purchase decisions. Mass persuasion is not a new concept; it exists because of the written press, radio, or television. it has evolved as the contemporary media has. however, with the invention of the internet and the surge of social media, the mass personalization, or targeting, is possible to ‘tailor’ a message as marketeers can get to ‘personally’ know the target audience. large-scale marketing strategies utilize predictive modeling which uses ‘individual-level data’ to predict convertible consumers based on their demographics, behaviors, preferences, social networks and location (aral, 2020). however, this may or may not be employed in fake reviews, as consumers search for information or ‘consume’ content on social media platforms or online forums. this could depend on the counter-marketing strategies analyzed in the present study. Moreover, manipulation directly influences the preferences, beliefs, desires, and/or emotions of an individual, as defined by Barnhill (2014). according to amory (2013), psychological manipulation is a type of social influence that aims to change the perception or behavior of others through underhanded, deceptive, or even abusive tactics such as counter-marketing. a key element of manipulation is that the ‘victim’ is unaware that they are being manipulated. in addition, amory (2013) declares that there are three key elements involved in a successful manipulation strategy: first, disguising violent intentions and actions; second, understanding the victim’s (consumer) psychological vulnerabilities in order to decide what strategies are most likely to work; and finally, possessing enough ferocity that, if necessary, it would not be a problem to harm the victim (consumer, product, or brand). Manipulation does not remain within the boundaries of ‘positiveness’ as it does not consider the victim’s feelings and consequences. according to aral (2020) ‘happy’ and ‘sad’ feelings dispose people to gather, in what is called hipersocialization of emotions. therefore, ‘fear’ through ‘emotional’ contagion can influence a group of people feeling the same manner. in this particular case, the fear of getting burned by an overheated smartphone or the device itself getting on fire. Perception is the process by which a person selects, arranges, and analyzes the stimuli (information) to which they are exposed in order to create an image of the outside world (kotler etal., 2022). according to Berelson and steiner (1964), consumers tend to misperceive persuasive messages according to their predispositions. it is also influenced by the relationships between the environment and internal factors. On the other hand, hawkins et al. (2004) define perception as a series of activities by which stimuli are perceived, interpreted and memorized. this is part of the information process for consumer Decision Making. On the other hand, influence has been extensively researched. it involves people using different forms of ‘power’ based on a variety of factors, including the circumstance, the goal, the values of the ‘victim’, the influencer’s motive, and societal norms. in addition to the aforementioned benefits of the product, cialdini (1984) asserts that consistency is what reinforces the influencer’s goal because it forces him to ‘fight’ against other stimuli in order to stay (or not) relevant in the market. customer viewpoint. Finally, kotler etal. (2022) state that in addition to external variables and other stimuli that may cause noise in message delivery, the approach will be determined by the value offered, its benefits, the market, and the brand and consumer personality. Marketing communication is used to deliver messages according to the main objective. Marketing communications it is important to state several key elements of the marketing communication, defined by Berelson and steiner (1964): Firstly, communication is defined by as the process of transmission of ideas, information, emotions, etc. by the use of symbols through media; Mass media, then, is the transmission using media with the ability to massively communicate from a source to a large audience; audience is the (generic) cOgent Business & ManageMent 5 term to individuals who read, view and listen the content; content is what is said in the communication, the message. Finally, the effect of the communication can have any change in the consumer’s behavior as a result of the exposure to (mass) media, such as altering the individual perception and ultimately a selection or purchase. however, any individual can resist persuasive communication. through marketing communications, companies aim to inform, persuade, and remember consumers directly or indirectly about the products and brands they sell (kotler et al., 2022). they also show consumers how and why a product is used, as well as who uses it, and where and when they do so. however, they can also affect the perception of a brand or product by relating bad experiences with the brand. Public sources of information, such as social media and consumer rating forums, are frequently used by consumers during the information search and evaluation of alternative stages, such as (social) media and consumer rating forums. kotler et al. (2022) and Van Os (2018) agree that consumers begin the ‘purchase process’ with a research and evaluation of alternatives, even if they are aware or familiar with the product. nonetheless, this may create a social heuristic, as consumers refer to social and digital media to ‘research’ and ‘evaluate’ relying on the opinion and reviews written by both strangers and influencers. in addition, according to Van Os (2018), ‘content marketing’ is used to publish articles, news, reviews, and posts with a product bias, in an obvious attempt to manipulate the consumer, directly influencing the decision-making process. however, it also declares that consumers are becoming more aware of the bias and fake content, and thus, may be losing effectiveness. another marketing communication strategy that is commonly used to alter consumer perceptions is advertising. calkins (1915) claimed that it is difficult to find a satisfactory definition of advertising. ironizes that can be interpreted as a ‘business imagination’ that appeals to the consumer to create a desire for the product that did not exist before. advertising is considered a form of media manipulation because it uses techniques to manipulate the perceptions of the audience with the broadcast message, according to Barnhill (2014). it is based on repetition, as it weakens any resistance it may encounter, reinforcing associations, and the memory of the message. Bagwell (2007) states that advertising reaches consumers through media and defines it as persuasion, as attempts to alter consumers’ knowledge, values, and perception; in addition, advertising may be informative in order to ‘smooth’ the imperfect information a consumer could have. this can also be applied in ‘reverse’ as a part of marketing countermeasures of rival (hostile) companies in order to maintain and expand the market and to survive in the new competitive world economy for the ‘survival of the fittest’ (Deng & lu, 2011; tingting, 2015). On the other hand, hofacker and Belanche (2016) declare that consumers continuously and increasingly use digital and social media for several consumption topics as to share their experience and to interact with the product, but also to complain and ‘bad’ reviewing products. as stated before, fake reviews, such as counter-marketing communication, are a type of misinformation spread through social media, other platforms, and online forums. however, individuals act against communications perceived as aggressive ‘opinion changers’, blocking them with consistent resistance allowing only communication that reinforces the existing predisposition to change (Berelson & steiner, 1964). Digital consumers have the power to contrast communications in real-time. Finally, marketing communication aims to alter consumers’ perception of a product, both in positive and negative ways. Mccluskey (2022) states that content in the form of fake reviews aims to damage the perception, trust, or interest a customer may have on a particular product or brand. a communication strategy, involving disinformation through fake reviews and news, can be motivated by several motives; however, for the purposes of the current research, the following two are accounted for: 1) the need to advance its own purposes and personal gain at virtually any cost, and 2) a desire to gain a feeling of power over other brands/products to alter the customer’s perception. Misinformation the specific term, nowadays, acts as an ‘umbrella term’ and also it is evolving and includes all ‘non-intentional’ falsehoods and it is a problem that occurs around the world and across diverse platforms, and each one of them defines misinformation according to the type and content of them 6 a. esPinOZa anD c. a. PiÑa-garcÍa (ecker et al., 2022; rogers, 2023.2022a). in addition, the definition involves the journalistic or editorial process, which is considered to be the source and not the story (van der linden, 2022). Misinformation is defined as something untrue is spread unwittingly and any information that turns out to be false that can be amplified through digital media and platforms and has the intention to form a ‘false’ belief in the audience also the amplification and engagement of the misinformation varies between platforms (ecker et al., 2022; søe, 2018). the term misinformation must be separated from a similar term, disinformation, where the spread is also done, but with malicious intent. From the point of view of rogers (2023.2018b) misinformation also may be associated with the term ‘fake news’, defined as imposter, conspiracy news and ‘ideological web operations’. however, spreading misinformation may have the intention to manipulate (negative approach) the individual’s perception on different scales according to the ‘weight’ of the problem, the social platform, and the target audience. a ‘misinformative post’ may get more interaction as it attempts to balance and contextualize the content posted by misinformators (groen & geboers, 2023; rogers, 2023.2023b). the covid-19 pandemic accelerated online commerce, making customers lean digitally on reviews more intensely. consumers learned new ways and indicators to make online purchases easier (Marciano, 2021; Mccluskey, 2022). Online customer support communities have the intention to help customers by creating and spreading a positive ‘word-of-mouth’, the first form of advertising, around the product, according to Van Os (2018) this is a very powerful marketing communication tool. however, customers not only join or participate in these online forums. consumers tend to obtain information and evaluate their purchases by searching for reviews because they think that an online (real or fake) review is more important than any other form, type, or rating. however, 85% of consumers believe that online reviews are fake or fraudulent; they do not think they are genuine, but the scope is the same; fake reviews aim to cause a loss of confidence (Vignolo, 2019). nevertheless, when a fake review ‘hits’ the safety issue a health risk may be involved. Mccluskey (2022) states that consumers tend to avoid products or brands perceived as dangerous or poorly reviewed. if a device a consumer holds against its or head gets too hot, it cannot be perceived as safe, damaging the brand’s perception. Fake reviewing could be a type of astroturfing campaign. the ‘actor’ aims to post fake reviews into ‘organic’ reviews and to profit from them, depending on the strategy or desired outcome, even after the fake review is detected and/or deleted (Marciano, 2021). a crowd with an interdependent opinion in a homogenous community connects users into a mass opinion that can outperform an expert opinion and even corporate or official statements; this is called the ‘madness of crowds’ (aral, 2020). in addition, in social media, it has been referred to as peer influence reviews, where it can modify judgements, opinions, and behavior if the reviews are mostly positive because a satisfied customer can positively review and influence another customer to buy the same product or brand. however, according to chevalier and Mayzlin (2006), there is no literature that supports the idea that online reviews (organic or not) and community forums have any effect on consumer decision-making. consumers, however, will ignore positive reviews and try to search for negative reviews. these ‘bad actors’ are widely motivated to attack or counterattack marketing efforts from any company. they may hurdle a customer forum and fill it with negative reviews in an attempt to damage customer experience or perception. For these attacks to be efficient must be done on a large scale (Drenik, 2023; resnick & Zeckhauser, 2002; romanov et al., 2017). One simple solution would be to detect (using Machine learning, as is the case of reddit) and remove any fake reviews from social media platforms and forums; however, this does not address directly or solve the problem; thus, it does not cancel the influence a fake review can have, creating a cascade of fake reviews that would follow, shared from person to person. according to aral (2020), the damage in this scenario could be representative of the perception of a certain product, brand, or company. Methodology For the purpose of this research, a mixed-method exploratory design was chosen. this method makes use of an approach to identify keywords in form of the research query ‘iPhone® 15 overheating’ that the cOgent Business & ManageMent 7 company’s current, and potential, consumers used to post, comment, reply and, especially, to evaluate and to search for information regarding an alleged problem soon after the smartphone 15 lineup launch and sale on 2023 Q3 (late september, 2023). We gather information according to the source: first, social media; second, online forums, and finally, internet search engines; analyzed the datasets through content and sentiment analysis, frequency, co-tag, interest, and stock and sales behavior. initially, we gathered the dataset from tiktok®1 (social media platform) using the 4cat (Peeters & hagen, 2022) tool for the research query. the posted content is part of a global conversation around the issue object of the present article. table 1 shows information related to the dataset: number of items and date of collection. it must be highlighted that the number of collected items corresponds to the social media platform using the mentioned query in body, hashtag, comments, replies, and stickers, as 4cat (Peeters & hagen, 2022) recognizes the tags as words in any text element. From the dataset, we obtained the thumbnails from all the videos using the seatch query ‘iphone 15 overheating’, the 4cat (Peeters & hagen, 2022) tool allowed us to obtain an image wall arranged by a color theme. in addition, after a filtering process, we obtained a co-tag network, vizualized with gephi™2, with the tags associated with the main query to set a relation between them in terms of frequency. Furthermore, following a filtering process, the top ten keywords were selected from the sample to determine the main context of the social media platform conversation around the product. in addition, we analyzed the most used icons in the dataset and the sentiment analysis created with the free chatgPt 3.5 tool (aWs, n.d.; saini, 2023; Openai, n.d.) for the dataset from the main query on the social media platform. Of course, the content posted on the social media platform and gathered in the dataset included organic or real reviews, comments, replies, and legitime questions. the 4cat (Peeters & hagen, 2022) tool gathers all of the information using the search query. the sentiment analysis by the chatgPt 3.5 (Openai, n.d.) tool was done in general terms, equilizing real with fake reviews. after analyzing the dataset gathered from the social media, we analyzed the information from the apple support community3, an online forum to learn about the company’s products, new ways to enjoy them, and to share knowledge with the community, where members feel comfortable asking and answering questions (apple, n.d.a). in this particular forum, the company’s device users. Furthermore, research on the online forum was conducted listed in table 2. the objective was to analyze the posts, users, and content referring to the overheating issue in the first month after the launch of the smartphone 15. a total of 82 posts were found and the data of each post was copied including: date, username, ‘views’, ‘me too’, ‘replies’, participation, achievements (level and points awarded) and Os version anda device (when declared). after a filtering process on a spreadsheet, the sample was reduced to 43 original posts containing the terms of the main research query in the title and body text. 25 posts were created from all smartphone lineups. Only seven posts regarded questions (Qs) about overheating. One user posted a cropped screenshot, including a warning that charging was on hold and resumed when the device returned to normal temperature. no posts before september 22, 2023, regarding smartphone 15, were found because the company started the sale and shipping on that day (goh & Malik, 2023), supporting the idea that no user was able to post a message reviewing the device prior to actually having it on hand. however, we discovered some posts from users complaining about the overheat hurting them, from devices that were not the Table 1. summary information obtained from the Research Query on the social Media Platform. number of items captured Date of collection 343 october 12, 2023 Data source: 4Cat (Peeters, s. & Hagen, s., 2022) & tiktok (n.d.). Table 2. summary information obtained from the support Community for the Research Query. Filters Date Results original Replies Complains smartphone 15 Qs Last month oct 12, 2023 82 43 36 35 25 7 Data source: apple, n.d.a. 14 a. esPinOZa anD c. a. PiÑa-garcÍa official account (verified) of the company (@apple). it has not published any videos (with more than 7.4 M likes and 3.2 followers) whatsoever. Apple support community Figure 10 shows the results after an in-depth analysis of the user (kcue89,89, 2023) post referred from the guardian’s Digital edition article. First, the user seems to be an account of recent creation (level 1 and does not provide a date of creation), with this being the first and only post or interaction in the community (participation and achievements). lastly, the post published on september 25, 2023, 13 days after the public release of the smartphone 15 on september 12 (apple, 2023), reached an engagement of 125 ‘Me too’, 921 views and 2 replies. One of them from the user ‘thelittles’ (level 10, 185,781 points) inquiring that is not the first one to report that matter and giving out a possible solution to the issue. the second reply from the user ‘untensan’ (level 1) wondered if the case had to do anything with the overheating problem. none of the responses got a ‘helpful’ count nor a reply from the post’s author or other users. it is believed to be insufficiently representative and/or influential. it is important to note that users get points to upscale levels by posting and interacting on the forum in order to obtain mere (anonymous) recognition. this can be ‘translated’ into trust in the reviewer and influence over the consumer (in the search/evaluation phase). Milmo (2023) also refers to another post from the user ‘fnu_pan’ (474 views, 7 replies, 21 ‘me too’, data from October 3, 2023), claiming that the temperature from the device hurts its skin. however, while the online forum allows the users to include the device from where the publication is being posted the user ‘fnu_pan’ mentions to post it from an se device with operative system 17. conducting a word count from the online forum dataset, we found that ‘smartphone 15’ was mentioned 54 times, ‘overheating’ 32 times and ‘hot’ 22 times. in addition, Figure 11 shows the top ten most recurrent words in the dataset. Reddit We used the chatgPt 3.5 free tool (Openai, n.d.) capable of understanding natural language to perform a sentiment analysis for the posts on reddit for the query ‘iphone 15 overheating’. Figure 12 shows that sentiment is mostly negative (41%). this was expected because of the intrinsic characteristics of the overheating issue. Figure 10. screenshot from the apple support Community. Note: Data as october 12, 2023. Data source: apple support Community (apple, n.d.a). cOgent Business & ManageMent 15 neutral posts are questions or news headlines. however, negative posts were critics and complaints about how the devices overheated and burned, with no graphical evidence of these particular statements. On the other hand, Figure 13 illustrates the most representative images for the query. several images were repeated in the publications and replies section. screenshots and video thumbnails are used, including a picture of the former company’s ceO. however, some users posted pictures referring to the overheating issue with fire, flames, fire extinguishers, and thermometers with high-temperature readings. however, most posts use smartphones as thumbnails. Search trends Figure 14 represents interest over time for the research term. this trend peaked during the last week of september 2023. this is also related to the results of online forums. the numbers represent the search interest relative to the highest point on the chart for a given region and time. a value of 100 represents Figure 11. Bar Chart showing the Frequency of use of Words in the apple support Community Data set. Note: Data as october 12, 2023. Data source: apple support Community (apple, n.d.). Figure 12. sentiment analysis for Posts on Reddit for the search Query ‘iphone 15 overheating’. Note: Period september 12 – october 12, 2023. Data source: Reddit (2023d). 16 a. esPinOZa anD c. a. PiÑa-garcÍa the term’s peak popularity. a value of 50 indicates that the term is half popular. a score of 0 means that there was not enough data for this term (trends help, 2023). this could indicate that not enough users searched for the term and/or the overheating issue was not relevant enough for consumers who used a search engine for information and/or evaluating alternatives during the purchase process. in addition, curry (2023) states that, aside from china and Japan, asia ranked fifth in terms of revenue between 2015 and 2021. however, since 2019, it has been steadily expanding, and in 2022 and 2023, it will rank as the fourth region globally (data are still missing). this may contribute to singapore’s high and cyprus mid-level interest in (popularity for) term searches. the united states ([Value: 32], fifth place) accounts for 35% of the company’s yearly sales and revenue. however, neither the number of users who looked for the phrase during the information search and alternative evaluation stages nor the perspective of consumers regarding the subject’s interest are measured. in addition, table 4 shows the related queries users also searched while searching for the subject ‘iPhone 15 overheating’. the most popular search queries are presented. scoring is on a relative scale where a value of 100 is the most commonly searched query, 50 is a query searched half as often as the most popular query and, finally, a score near to 0 means that the query is almost not searched for. Figure 13. image Wall from Reddit for the search Query ‘iPhone 15 overheating’. Note: Period september 12 – october 12, 2023. Data source: Reddit (2023.d). Figure 14. interest over time Regarding the Query ‘iphone 15 overheating’. Note: Period from sep/12-oct/12, 2023. Results include all the related terms regardless letter case. Data source: trends n.d. cOgent Business & ManageMent 17 Company’s stock, revenue and sales in the last five years (2019-2023) the dynamic of stock (aaPl) market prices had what may be described as consistent and steady expansion, reaching its peak price ($196.45) on July 31, 2023 while the lowest $37.68 on December 21, 2018, as shown in Figure 15 (Finance, 2023; nasdaq, n.d.). additionally, the five most recent smartphone lineup launches are presented. While no other device issues are discussed, the company’s stock behavior shows no superficial effects after the last five product launches or media phenomenon, regarding the same issues described above, the target of the present article. regarding the overheating issue related to the smartphone 15 lineup (september 12, 2023), the stock price (aaPl) behaved ‘normally’ as changes in stock prices occur due to accumulation of many factors, in this case psychological, and other particular elements that determine the internal movements reflecting the ‘price independence’ unrelated to macroeconomics, political events, and marketing strategies and/or actions. nevertheless, changes in the stock price do not measure or reflect, by any means, the perception of the brand or the product (smartphone 15 lineup), and any change in the stock value can interfere in reaching the objectives and affect marketing actions. however, no evidence of alteration related to the overheating issue was found that could directly or indirectly affect the company’s stock price in the referred period. On the other hand, Figure 16 illustrates the total worldwide revenue of the company, as a company, from 2019 (19Q1) to 2023 (23Q4). it also shows the total worldwide revenue for the smartphone lineup, which is notable for representing more than half of the company’s annual revenue, according to curry (2023). Product availability in late september and the ‘end-of-year’ sales are represented in Q4. it is also expected that sales in Q3 (July-september) will slow down due to the expectation of a new model coming soon on Q4 (October-December). Other companies’ products, accessories, and services represent the rest (<50%), even though the company hosts one launch event (mainly for those products) in March. Despite the company’s decision to stop disclosing smartphone sales figures to the public, the yearly lineup unit sales are evident in 2018 Q4 (curry, 2023; garun, 2018), as depicted in Figure 17. sales peaked in 2021 at 242 million units after steady growth since 2008. however, sales numbers cannot accurately reflect the new model because they might include older models. after 2019, all values were forecasts and estimates. sales figures behaved ‘normally’, as in previous years, with increasing numbers constantly yearly. according to koetsier (2024), the company shipped 234.6 million units in 2023, barely 1% more than in 2022. this figure shows the entire smartphone lineup. Table 4. top 10 Related Queries to the search term ‘iphone 15 overheating’. 1. iphone 15 pro 100 6. iphone 15 pro max overheating 71 2. overheating iphone 15 pro 100 7. apple iphone 15 max overheating 51 3. apple iphone 15 overheating 73 8. apple iphone 15 pro max overheating 44 4. apple iphone 15 73 9. is iphone 15 overheating 18 5. iphone 15 pro max overheating 71 10. iphone 15 overheating issue 13 Note: Period september 12–october 12, 2023. Data source: google trends (https://www.google.com/trends), n.d. Figure 15. Historical Behavior of the apple inc. Common stock (aaPL) Price. Data source: google Finance (https://www.google.com/finance) & nasdaq (https://www.nasdaq.com). 18 a. esPinOZa anD c. a. PiÑa-garcÍa Discussion We argue that (counter)marketing is meant to be used to manipulate and distort consumer perception, even with a positive agenda, as marketing may be defined as the successful satisfaction of needs in a profitable way. Digital media provides new tools to persuade consumers. in addition, it has been used to alter consumer perceptions and the sales and revenue of other companies through fake reviews. however, it would depend on the loyalty customers may have toward a certain product or brand, as their values or perceptions may not be altered. Finally, we discovered previous counter-marketing studies (castronuovo, 2020; Duval, 2023; van lieshout & Beeres, 2017; Mckenna et al., 2000; north Dakota, 2022; Veríssimo, 2017) as positive powerful tools in the fight against negative subjects like tobacco, international labor, biodiversity and arms dealing. By focusing on business management, empowerment, education, and social responsibility, these campaigns aim to shift cultural norms, attitudes and behaviors towards more ethical choices. however, we did not find any literature supporting the use of counter-marketing as a negative tool versus a positive issue. Conclusion the purpose of this research was to discover the effects of possible counter-marketing actions and their effects on consumers’ perception of the product and/or brand, following what we could call an amplification attempt to promote misinformation in the form of fake reviews. this study aimed to understand the effects of counter-marketing strategies may alter consumer behavior. to accomplish this, we gathered and examined data from social media platforms, online forums, search engines, and stock market behavior. We consider it important to mention that since 2018, apple has not made its sales numbers public, specifically on the smartphone lineup. however, the interest, according to the search engine results, has been increasing, particularly in the fourth quarter (Q4) yearly and the sales according to specialists. Figure 16. Revenue area Representation for apple and iPhone from 2019-2023 as for november 13, 2023. Note: in Billions of Dollars (usD) / Data from 2023 Q4 not yet complete. Data source: Curry, 2023. Figure 17. Device unit sales, Worldwide, from 2015-2023. Note: in Millions of units. Data source: Curry, 2023; Koetsier, 2024. cOgent Business & ManageMent 19 Firstly, we analyzed a dataset gathered from tiktok1, using the 4cat tool. We discovered several videos using thumbnails and images as background suggesting flames and enhancing the overheating issue. this could be in an attempt to alter the perception of the product (smartphone 15 lineup) but also the brand. through a sentiment and an icon analysis (to the two most representative videos on the dataset) the conversation is mainly negative, as expected. comments and replies, organic and possibly false, addressed the overheating problem, however users do not post devices on flames or burn marks on any body part, as posts suggested. second, on a community network, we analyzed several publications under the main research query. We discovered that users replied but mainly posted questions about the issue, some other posted images, and video thumbnails (mostly from online video sharing platform videos), amplifying the problem using flames, fire, and hazard-related images. sentiment analysis of the text, comments, and replies showed a negative tone due to the nature of an overheating issue. simultaneously, we analyzed the same query on an online forum known to company users to post concerns, problems, seeking technical assistance, and peer solutions. this concern was boosted by publication in the digital edition of the guardian. this piece of content mentions users posting questions and concerns about the overheating issue. however, as we analyzed the posts cited in news media publications, we found that the impact on posts and participation was reduced to minimum engagement. this suggests that the impact is not relevant in terms of counter-marketing actions and techniques (rQ1). third, we used search engine trends to measure interest in the main query on a global basis. there were queries associated with the main term and topics; nonetheless, its behavior in terms of interest was the same as the main query. asia showed the most interest in searching for the overheating issue by region. in other regions such as america and europe, interest was not relevant. the company stock experienced a repetitive behavior as previous years (2018-2023), as it faced a constant and yearly increase of the stock price, also, a ‘normal’ drop on the price. We did not analyze whether the company faced similar problems after the annual smartphone launch compared to the overheating issue, although the stock price and sales generally increased. this is in line with the sales data that the business and experts estimate, which display consistent annual sales figures for all of the company’s goods and services, particularly smartphones. We did not find cross-platform content or authors amplifying the overheating query. this is important due to the fact that each social media and online forum has its own audience, and each audience is segmented according to several factors including, but not limiting to, demographics, cultural and economical. We found consistent evidence of fake reviews; nevertheless, we could not establish the intention behind counter-marketing action. through sentiment analysis, we determined that reviews were mainly negative. Visual examination of images posted on online forums and social media platforms was consistent with exaggerating and misinforming the consumer, with the scope altering its perception and ultimately its purchase intention. however, no evidence of smartphone 15 devices bursting into flames or physical damage to consumer hands or faces was found. Both automated and organic moderators can mitigate the spread of misinformation and fraudulent content, not only on social media or community networks, but also on other online retailer platforms or community forums. however, everywhere there is illegitimate traffic, businesses and digital platforms should take proactive measures to address the issue of fake reviews, which can boost positive perceptions or alter them by influencing consumers’ perceptions. conversely, negative reviews aim to modify (damage) the perception of a product or brand. currently, legislators and regulators in the us are stepping up to force platforms, online forums, and businesses to strengthen their content review platforms. however, that effort is not directed at tackling fake news or reviews disguised as ‘experiences’ or ‘questions’ in consumer forums. First, they should identify and filter reviews, know and be aware of the risks, and anticipate them. Officially, the company addressed the overheating issue and even provided a software solution (updates) to its Os 17 and also referred to third-party apps. it also reinforces the safe use of all smartphone lineups and provides recommendations on what to do if the device turns uncommonly hot. Based on the information gathered, the behavior of online users, and the company’s stock price and sales, we can state that the counter-marketing effort to manipulate the consumer’s perception of the 20 a. esPinOZa anD c. a. PiÑa-garcÍa product (brand) during the early stages of the buyer’s decision process could have aimed to undecided consumers seeking a new smartphone or new users from the company. We can state that even though the conversation across platforms showed participation, the perception, loyalty, and sales were not persuaded by the counter-marketing campaign (rQ2). it is important to note that the price of a product acts as a potent segmentator, which in some cases functions as a status symbol and could be the main concern for a selected group of consumers. therefore, we can conclude that, despite an alleged effort to manipulate and persuade potential and actual, and furthermore, loyal consumers of the smartphone lineup and the company and brand, the counter-marketing efforts to modify their behavior or perception were close to being unsuccessful, because the product (brand) experienced a well-expected behavior in terms of sales or demand. We can also see that the company handled the alleged overheating issue promptly. nevertheless, we found literature stating that, in fact, the company has faced problems fulfilling the strong demand of the smartphone 15 lineup during the weeks after the device was available, online, and in brick-and-mortar stores. however, the present research intends to create awareness of counter-marketing actions and serve as a reference for future studies on actions and strategies aimed at damaging and/or manipulating consumers’ perceptions of any product or brand. Officially, the company only refers to the matter with a post on the support page of its website (apple, 2023b). however, it does not specifically address it; instead, it offers advice on how to determine the device operating temperatures and temperature control without mentioning any specific products. additionally, experiencing a higher temperature is normal because the devices can get warm during certain processes, such as initial setup, backing up and restoring the device, wireless charging, heavy use of graphics and processing apps, games, and features such as augmented reality and streaming high-quality video. nevertheless, it also addresses the issue of the device becoming too cold while using it in very cold conditions outside. the company also advises against keeping the device in a car on a ‘hot’ day under direct sunlight. this refers to a generic temperature warning screen that is displayed when an Os device reaches a ‘certain’ temperature. simply shutting off the device, putting it in a ‘cooler’ location, and waiting for it to ‘cool’ down to will allow you to resume using it. Notes 1. Without our explicit permission, you may only use the tiktok name in text where it is used to identify or refer to the platform or services e.g. “uploaded on tiktok” or “follow us on tiktok.” Legal. https://tiktokbrandbook. com/d/hhXfjVk1Poj9/legal#/legal/overview 2. gephi consortium. legal. https://gephi.org/legal/copyright/. 3. apple support community https://discussions.apple.com/terms & legal https://www.apple.com/legal/ intellectual-property/. 4. reddit inc. brand terms of use. https://www.redditinc.com/policies/trademark-use-policy. https://www.redditinc. com/assets/press-resources/reddit_brand_guidelines_202009-3.pdf 5. gephi consortium. legal. https://gephi.org/legal/copyright/. Acknowledgements no assistance was provided that is not described in the sections on author contributions and funding. all authors have consented to the present acknowledgment. Disclosure statement no potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s). About the authors Dr. Armando Espinoza is an associate professor in the Master of Management program at the institute of research and higher studies in administrative sciences at universidad Veracruzana, Mexico. his research interests include digital marketing, social network analysis and online consumer behavior. cOgent Business & ManageMent 21 Dr. Carlos Adolfo Piña-García is a full time researcher at universidad Veracruzana, Mexico; he holds a Ph.D. in computer science from university of essex at the school of computer science and electronic engineering. his research interests include social network analysis, computational social science and social mining. Author contributions conceptualization, a.e.; methodology, a.e.; software, a.e. and c.a.P.-g.; validation, a.e. and c.a.P.-g.; formal analysis, a.e. and c.a.P.-g.; investigation, a.e. and c.a.P.-g.; resources, a.e. and c.a.P.-g.; data curation, a.e. and c.a.P.-g.; writing—original draft preparation, a.e.; writing—review and editing, a.e.; visualization, a.e.; supervision, a.e. and c.a.P.-g.; project administration, a.e. and c.a.P.-g.; funding acquisition, a.e. and c.a.P.-g. all authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. the data that support the findings of this study are openly available in 4tu research Data at https://doi. org/10.4121/733c73ae-9cf5-4c58-a479-b23ebc0fbea6.v1, no reference number. Data deposition DOi 10.4121/733c73ae-9cf5-4c58-a479-b23ebc0fbea6 ORCID armando espinoza http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7477-5277 carlos adolfo Piña-garcía http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8741-4860 References amory, D. (2013). Manipulation. 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