Scenario 18-5 An Old Adage States That All Publicity Is Good Publicity

Scenario 18-5
An old adage states that all publicity is good publicity. However, Professors Jonah Berger of the Wharton School, and Alan Sorensen and Scott Rasmussen of Stanford found that there is such a thing as bad publicity. The colleagues studied the relationship between bad publicity and its impact on music albums, books, and movies.In 2010, they published their findings in an article in Marketing Science.After studying cases involving the late Michael Jackson, Russell Crowe, and various authors, the colleagues concluded that negative publicity can increase product sales. Michael Jackson sold more albums after receiving negative media attention, and films starring Russell Crowe received higher rankings following an incident in which he allegedly threw a cell phone at a hotel employee. These high-profile stars actually thrived after receiving substantial amounts of negative publicity. However, in many lower profile cases, negative publicity hurt sales and product reception. The three colleagues conducted an analysis of The New York Times' reviews and book sales and found that negative reviews hurt sales of books by well-established authors, but helped sales of books by relatively unknown authors. After conducting their study, the authors found that conventional wisdom is wrong: not all publicity is good publicity.But they did show that negative publicity can sometimes be positive; it all depends on existing-product awareness.(Ned Smith, "Can Bad Buzz Be Good?" Business News Daily, November 1, 2010)
-(Scenario 18-5) The text states that we have entered a "new era" for public relations. What is one factor that contributes to this belief?

A) increased media coverage of company advertising
B) more aggressive efforts to catch firms acting in an improper manner
C) increasingly sophisticated and connected consumers who are talking to each other more and more about brands
D) more focus on public relations and its various applications and less concentration on the rest of the marketing process