Focus Groups are a depth technique - So get deep and real!: One of the problems with focus group research is that it can foster a confidence in the self-reported perceptions of the consumer, rather than their underlying motives which traditional focus group scripts often ignore.

Cognitive and affective consequences of two types of incongruent advertising: Abstract and link to full text of article on the effects of incongruent advertising information and brand beliefs. (Please note this is an academic research article)

Why focus groups (and many other research techniques) fail: Focus group methodologies in Asian markets are often criticized for failing to extract the key consumer motivational data that would help build sucessful marketing strategies. And the blame if often assigned to cultural factors.... We ask for calm however. Focus groups have the same problems world wide, and other new or innovative ideas and techniques as well as quantitative techniques also suffer from that same problem. In short, no matter how valid or well administered a technique, the whole thing fails when organizational communication and political issues are not addressed in the research management plan.