To Slang or Not To Slang? That Is the Question for Marketing Pros

Being named Dictionary.com's Word of the Year for 2025 might give the slang term "67" some street cred, but how effective are such slang words when used in marketing?

A University of Texas at Dallas marketing professor and her colleagues recently discovered that the answer is more clear-cut than the meaning of 67 - pronounced "six seven." The term has no definitive meaning and is often accompanied by hand gestures that can be interpreted as "so-so" or "maybe this, maybe that."

New research by Dr. Ying Xie, senior author of the article and professor of marketing in the Naveen Jindal School of Management, found that the effectiveness of using slang in marketing messages depends on a brand's personality and the audience for the message. The research was published in the October issue of Journal of Marketing Research.

"We looked at slang as a linguistic element as well as its social function," Xie said. "Slang identifies your social affiliation. It's an identity that tells you who is in the group versus who is not in the group. For someone with whom you don't have this relationship, slang might be considered inappropriate. We think that's valuable insight in a marketing context."

"Slang identifies your social affiliation. It's an identity that tells you who is in the group versus who is not in the group. For someone with whom you don't have this relationship, slang might be considered inappropriate."

Dr. Ying Xie, professor of marketing in the Naveen Jindal School of Management

Xie and her co-authors dived into the topic after two of her colleagues conducted several lab experiments to see how consumers reacted to slang use in social media brand campaigns.

Based on those observations, Xie, whose research focuses on social media in marketing, gathered and analyzed likes and shares from the social platform X (formerly Twitter) to study the phenomenon. The researchers also explored how brands used slang in their marketing efforts.

They found that slang words appeared in nearly 20% of brands' social media posts, and 57% of brand managers for national and international campaigns said they had used slang in their campaigns.

Xie and her colleagues concluded that the effectiveness of slang use depends on consumer expectations and perceptions of a brand. For example, when brands that are considered more formal or family-oriented use slang in marketing, consumers react negatively and engage less with a social media post, the researchers found.

"Using slang can lower the consumer engagement with social media posts," Xie said. "A brand does not have that social relationship with you. Consumers who are not familiar with the brand don't engage with it as a friend.

"Everybody knows a brand is a commercial entity with monetary motives. When they start using slang, consumers think, 'Why are they talking to me like that? That is not my expectation. That's not very authentic.'"

On the other hand, consumers who perceived entities or brands as more fun, trendy, edgy or quirky reacted less negatively to slang in marketing campaigns. For example, researchers found that among energy drinks, Monster Energy, a more exciting brand, experienced less negative impact from slang use than AriZona, a more sincere brand.

The researchers also analyzed how consumers perceived slang when influencers were involved. Because influencers tend to be social media personalities, they aren't expected to be as formal as an official brand ambassador.

For fitness equipment brand Peloton, consumers' responsiveness to slang depended on the messenger.

"When the brand's social media post used slang, the impact was insignificant, but when the influencer used it, engagement was boosted," Xie said.

Future research might examine whether the findings hold true across different social media platforms, whether age affects an individual's perception of such language, and how a slang term's growing or decreasing popularity affects the outcome.

Other contributors to the research include Dr. Bryce Pyrah, corresponding author and an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota; Dr. Jing Wang, professor of marketing at the University of Iowa; and Yiyi Li PhD'17, assistant professor of marketing at UT Arlington.

Media Contact: Veronica Gonzalez, UT Dallas, 972-883-4358, [email protected], or the Office of Media Relations, UT Dallas, (972) 883-2155, [email protected].