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Does Advertising Bias Product Reviews? An Analysis of Wine Ratings

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  • Reuter, Jonathan

Abstract

In markets for experience goods, publications exist to help consumers decide which products to purchase. However, in most cases these publications accept advertising from the very firms whose products they review, raising the possibility that they bias product reviews to favor advertisers. To test for biased product reviews, I exploit the fact that, of the two major U.S. wine publications, only Wine Spectator accepts advertising. Although the average Wine Spectator ratings earned by advertisers and non-advertisers are similar, I find that advertisers earn just less than one point higher Wine Spectator ratings than non-advertisers when I use Wine Advocate ratings to adjust for differences in quality. However, 1 find only weak evidence that the selective retasting of advertisers' wines contributes to the higher ratings. Moreover, conditional on published ratings, Wine Spectator is no more likely to bestow awards upon advertisers. I conclude that while advertising may influence ratings on the margin, Wine Spectator appears largely to insulate reviewers from the influence of advertisers. (JEL Classification: L15, M37)

Suggested Citation

  • Reuter, Jonathan, 2009. "Does Advertising Bias Product Reviews? An Analysis of Wine Ratings," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(2), pages 125-151, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jwecon:v:4:y:2009:i:02:p:125-151_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Petrova, Maria, 2012. "Mass media and special interest groups," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 17-38.
    2. Jean-Marie Cardebat & Paola Corsinovi & Davide Gaeta, 2018. "Do Top 100 wine lists provide consumers with better information?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 38(2), pages 983-994.
    3. Ralf Dewenter & Ulrich Heimeshoff & Tobias Thomas, 2016. "Media Coverage and Car Manufacturers' Sales," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(2), pages 976-982.
    4. Stefano Dellavigna & Johannes Hermle, 2017. "Does Conflict of Interest Lead to Biased Coverage? Evidence from Movie Reviews," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 84(4), pages 1510-1550.
    5. Dewenter Ralf & Heimeshoff Ulrich, 2014. "Media Bias and Advertising: Evidence from a German Car Magazine," Review of Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 65(1), pages 77-94, April.
    6. Jonathan Reuter & Eric Zitzewitz, 2006. "Do Ads Influence Editors? Advertising and Bias in the Financial Media," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(1), pages 197-227.
    7. Tom Hamami, 2019. "Network Effects, Bargaining Power, and Product Review Bias: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(2), pages 372-407, June.
    8. Pannicke, Julia, 2015. "Media bias in women's magazines: Do advertisements influence editorial content?," Ilmenau Economics Discussion Papers 99, Ilmenau University of Technology, Institute of Economics.
    9. Blasco, Andrea & Sobbrio, Francesco, 2012. "Competition and commercial media bias," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 434-447.
    10. Vollaard, Ben & van Ours, Jan C., 2022. "Bias in expert product reviews," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 105-118.
    11. Ralf Dewenter & Ulrich Heimeshoff, 2015. "Do expert reviews really drive demand? Evidence from a German car magazine," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(14), pages 1150-1153, September.
    12. Tom Hamami & James Bailey, 2021. "Expert product reviews and conflict of interest," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(1), pages 170-176, January.
    13. Delmas, Magali A. & Gergaud, Olivier, 2021. "Sustainable practices and product quality: Is there value in eco-label certification? The case of wine," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    14. Dewenter Ralf & Lüth Hendrik, 2015. "Eine alternative Definition von Suchneutralität / An alternative definition of search neutrality," ORDO. Jahrbuch für die Ordnung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, De Gruyter, vol. 66(1), pages 221-242, January.
    15. Blasco, Andrea & Pin, Paolo & Sobbrio, Francesco, 2016. "Paying positive to go negative: Advertisers׳ competition and media reports," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 243-261.
    16. Ascensión Andina Díaz, 2011. "Mass Media in Economics: Origins and Subsequent Contributions," Working Papers 2011-02, Universidad de Málaga, Department of Economic Theory, Málaga Economic Theory Research Center.
    17. Amogh Prakasha Kumar & Richard Watt & Laura Meriluoto, 2021. "New Evidence on Using Expert Ratings to Proxy for Wine Quality in Climate Change Research," Working Papers in Economics 21/10, University of Canterbury, Department of Economics and Finance.
    18. Ruenzi, Stefan & Focke, Florens & Niessen-Ruenzi, Alexandra, 2014. "A Friendly Turn: Advertising Bias in the News Media," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100497, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    19. Dewenter, Ralf & Heimeshoff, Ulrich, 2012. "More ads, more revs? Is there a media bias in the likelihood to be reviewed?," DICE Discussion Papers 57, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    20. Kelly Grogan, 2015. "The value of added sulfur dioxide in French organic wine," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-25, December.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality
    • M37 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Advertising

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