An old adage states that all publicity is good publicity. However, Professors Jonah Berger of the Wharton School, and Alan Sorensen and Scott Rasmussen of Stanford University found that there is such a thing as bad publicity. The colleagues studied the relationship between bad publicity and its impact on music albums, books, and movies. They published their findings in Marketing Science. After studying cases involving the late Michael Jackson, Russell Crowe, and various authors, the colleagues concluded that negative publicity can increase product sales. Michael Jackson sold more albums after receiving negative media attention, and films starring Russell Crowe received higher rankings following an incident in which he allegedly threw a cell phone at a hotel employee. These high-profile stars actually thrived after receiving substantial amounts of negative publicity. However, in many low profile cases, negative publicity hurt sales and product reception. The three colleagues conducted an analysis of The New Y