When Flattery Backfires: Flattery, Perceived Fit, and Brand Evaluation

Sun, Y., Mengqi (Maggie) Liao, & Yang, J. (2026, August). “When Flattery Backfires: Flattery, Perceived Fit, and Brand Evaluation,” paper to be presented at the 109th annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), New Orleans.

Abstract: As artificial intelligence (AI) agents become integral to customer service and sales, brands increasingly face strategic choices about how personable and complimentary these agents should be. In a 2 (Flattery: high vs. low) × 2 (Brand type: luxury vs. mass-market) between-subjects online experiment (N = 167), participants interacted with a branded AI agent that offered product recommendations. Results showed that flattering responses enhanced perceptions of warmth but simultaneously increased perceptions of inauthenticity. Both warmth and inauthenticity significantly mediated the relationship between AI agent flattery and downstream outcomes, including brand attitude and purchase intention. These effects were consistent across brand types. This study advances understanding of AI-mediated brand communication by highlighting the double-edged nature of artificial flattery. The findings underscore that brands must carefully calibrate AI agents’ tone to leverage their relational benefits while mitigating authenticity concerns.