Does Bad Publicity Really Sell?
One old adage I have always heard is that there is no such thing as bad publicity; of course there are many ways of wording this expression, but I have often doubted this ideology. Even in situations where a negative could provide publicity, I always questioned if this helps, or if the press drives away too many people. This appeared true in music in many situations until there was one massive test case: “Try That in a Small Town” by Jason Aldean. After the music video was released, the video was immensely controversial and faced accusations of promoting/endorsing (or at least accepting) racism, violence, and lynching. That said, the song was embraced by many individuals (many of whom are typically more conservative), and the song ended up reaching number 1 in the U.S., giving Aldean his first chart topping hit. However, it dropped to number 21 the following week, which was the largest drop for a number 1 song. This has made me even more uncerta...