Ruminating about Placebo Effects of Marketing Actions

In Shiv, Carmon, and Ariely (2005), the authors demonstrate that marketing actions such as price promotions and advertising evoke consumer expectations, which can alter the actual efficacy of the marketed product, a phenomenon they call “placebo effects of marketing actions.” In this rejoinder, they build on the preceding commentaries and refine their framework to account more fully for factors that may influence this placebo effect, and they describe directions for further research in this new topic area.