As the holiday shopping season approaches, advertisers and online e-tailers should be wary that unsolicited recommendations to consumers can backfire, two marketing professors from Duke's and Columbia's business schools write in an upcoming article in the journal "Marketing Science."

What is happening, Duke Professor Gavan Fitzsimons and Columbia's Donald Lehmann found during extensive research, is that advertisers' success rates go down dramatically when consumers receive recommendations for products or services that might be the best options for them, but for some reason they didn't initially fall in love with. Not only do consumers ignore the recommendations, they actually do exactly the opposite.

"Holiday merchandisers beware," Fitzsimons said. "Be careful of an unanticipated and unwanted backfire."

Politicians can learn from the research as well. Fitzsimons suggests that an office holder such as President Bush would do better encouraging voters to examine public policy options -- rather than forcefully telling the American public what our government should do in Iraq or other hot spots in the world.

Fitzsimons can be reached for additional comment by contacting Jim Gray at (919) 660-2935.