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Research Alison Fragale tist had been responsible. Par- ticipants were more likely to think that the junior scientist had made a sim- ple mistake, but that the senior scientist deliber- ately designed a trial to produce misleading data. In another Ben Rosen study, some participants were told that a woman with high social and political status had underpaid her income tax; others were told that a daughter of Mexican immigrants had done the same. Again, participants believed that the first woman had broken the law, while the second had merely made an error. The researchers speculate that because powerful people are seen as rich, well-educated, and well- connected, others view their mis- deeds as deliberate and selfish. A more cynical view could be that others take more pleasure in see- ing those in power stumble, the researchers add—by punishing those in higher positions, people might feel better about their own less-privileged status. The authors point to Martha Stewart as one prominent example: Although many people are caught at insider trading, few are ever jailed. Stewart, however, was not only convicted and jailed for the crime, but also harshly criticized in mainstream media. Because Stew- art made her living as a celebrity 60 BizEd SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2009 selling perfection, Fragale and Rosen suggest, she was punished more harshly for her wrongdoing than others might have been. Oprah Winfrey, on the other hand, has experienced many cri- ses in her career without public backlash. The lesson for those in power, say the authors, is to think about reputation before they run into trouble. A high-status indi- vidual who has cultivated a reputa- tion for philanthropy, kindness, and humility may do better in the court of public opinion than some- one who has not. The paper, "The Higher They Are, the Harder They Fall: The Effects of Wrongdoer Status on Observer Punishment Recommen- dations and Intentionality Attribu- tions," appeared in the January 2009 issue of Organizational Behav- ior and Human Decision Processes. Advertisers Move to Movies With DVRs allowing more viewers to watch their favorite television pro- grams while skipping commercials, advertisers are turning to product placement in movies. Such place- ments result in a boost in a featured company's stock price. This was the conclusion of Michael Wiles, assistant professor of marketing at Arizona State Uni- versity's Carey School of Business in Tempe, and Anna Danielova, Anna Danielova Michael Wiles assistant professor of finance at McMaster University's DeGroote School of Business in Hamilton, Ontario, in Canada. The research- ers studied 126 product place- ments in films released in 2002. They found an average abnormal stock price jump of .89 percent for the related companies during the films' openings. In movies, companies can tie products "to the characters and what's portrayed to get rich symbolic associations with the movie and pop culture," says Wiles. Placements linked to advertising campaigns before a film's release often resulted in bigger jumps, while those in especially violent movies often resulted in lesser jumps. Placements in critically acclaimed movies also were less valuable, perhaps because viewers of these films found the placements disruptive to their film experience. Given today's advertising environment, the use of product placements in movies is likely to increase. It's important that compa- nies approach the practice carefully, says Wiles. "It's a difficult balancing act to figure out which ones will be worth the most," Wiles says. Adver- tisers must weigh the type of film, the promotion surrounding the film, and the number of placements already in the film to judge each placement's value. "The Worth of Product Place- ment in Successful Films: An Event Study Analysis" appears in the July issue of the Journal of Marketing.