Abstract
A survey was conducted to test whether or not the label “mouthpiece,” which appeared in the headline “Sinatra’s Mouthpiece,” was viewed as a derogatory term by a representative sample of financial publication readers who saw it used in reference to a lawyer. Four matched groups of subjects rated the person described by four headlines that varied the label (“mouthpiece” vs. “spokesman”) and the employer (Sinatra vs. John Doe) in a 2 × 2 ANOVA design. Results showed that the label “mouthpiece” produced a significantly negative impression regardless of the employer (p <.0001). The data were presented in a Federal Court lawsuit that produced a ruling more in favor of the First Amendment to the Constitution than toward either litigant.
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Kramer, T.H., Buckhout, R., Eugenio, P. et al. Presence of malice: Scientific evaluation of reader response to innuendo. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 23, 61–63 (1985). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329779
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329779