Placebo effect associated to artistic products; the case of poetry

Abstract

This research finds unambiguous evidence about the existence of the placebo effect in the evaluation of an artistic product, such as a poem. After applying different methods and under disparate test situations, results indicate that the name of the author who signs the poem significantly influence the subjective valuation people achieve. Therefore, this study provides an answer to the question: may a literary work be judged in a different manner depending on the person who signs that artistic piece? Results derived from this research clearly show the prevalence of this effect, so that a poem is evaluated more favorably when the reader believes that it has been written by a well-known poet than when the reader thinks the poem is anonymous. Consequently, the brand name influences the product perception. However, the placebo effect decreases when highly experienced people evaluate the product. The implications for the marketing literature and for the editorial industry are finally discussed.

Keywords

• Placebo effect
• expectations
• artistic product