Topic: Shifting the Spotlight: Do Firms Change Their Advertising Strategies after ESG Reputation-Damaging Events?
Speaker: Yin WANG
Date & Time: 10:00-11:30 March 23, 2026
Online Venue: 245 Room Quanxue Building
Organizers: School of Accounting, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics; Liaoning Province Capital Market Finance and Accounting Graduate Innovation and Academic Exchange Center
Abstract: This study uses granular data on firms’ advertising expenditures to examine how firms adjust advertising spending following ESG incidents across local markets. We find that firms on average reduce advertising immediately after ESG incidents, consistent with a visibility reduction strategy aimed at managing negative stakeholder perceptions. These reductions are concentrated in environmental and social (E&S) incidents and are stronger in regions with higher E&S sensitivity. Further analyses show that reductions are not driven by efforts to address underlying E&S issues but instead reflect a tactical reallocation of advertising expenditures away from high-sensitivity regions to low-sensitivity regions. The negative valuation effects of E&S incidents are significantly mitigated when firms reduce advertising spending in the month following the incidents. We also find spillover effects, as firms cut advertising when their suppliers or product-market peers experience E&S incidents. Our findings uncover a complex corporate visibility strategy varying across geographic market and over time.
Introduction of Speaker:
Yin Wang, Assistant Professor at the School of Accounting, Singapore Management University (SMU), where he also serves as the Associate Director of the MSc in Accounting (Data & Analytics) program. He received his Ph.D. from HEC Paris. Before joining academia, he was a Manager in the Management Control Department at BNP Paribas headquarters in Paris. His research interests span information disclosure and its economic consequences, advertising spillovers in capital markets, financial intermediaries, common ownership, ESG disclosure, insider trading, earnings management, and regulation and corporate governance. His work has appeared in top-tier accounting journals such as The Accounting Review (TAR) and Contemporary Accounting Research (CAR). He is a recipient of multiple Outstanding Reviewer Awards from the Financial Accounting and Reporting Section (FARS) Midyear Meeting of the American Accounting Association (AAA) and has consistently served as a reviewer for international journals and conferences. He has also received several teaching awards at SMU, and his courses have been featured as teaching demonstrations for junior faculty and Ph.D. students.
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