Do Unmentionable Products Still Exist? : An Empirical Investigation

Unmentionable products are those that are considered to be offensive,embarrassing, harmful, socially unacceptable, or controversial to some significant segment of the population. Examples of these products include personal hygiene products, cigarettes, and even fur coats. Describes empirical research, based on a cross‐sectional survey of 248 subjects, which provides a taxonomy of these products. Objectives of the research were to determine if unmentionable products still exist;and to assist brand marketers with market strategies. Two key factors were found to group unmentionable products together: level of controversy/harm; and level of communication. There were two groups of unmentionable products based on this classification:controversial/harmful and public communication; and beneficial and private communication. Certain products were not unmentionable. Managerial implications include careful target market segmentation,particularly for controversial/public products. For beneficial private products, high quality and accurate information is critical. Unmentionable products still exist after 14 years, and both the concept itself and the determining factors are timeless, even though specific products will change over time.