Consumer Brand Hate: Steam rolling whatever I see

Abstract

This study aims to investigate negative consumer‐brand relationships by developing a “Brand Hate” concept. A hierarchical Brand Hate model is theoretically discussed in light of the psychology and consumer behavior literatures. In Study‐I the Brand Hate concept was tested with two different types of consumer brand haters, true haters, and regular haters. The study found that in the study's proposed multidimensional Brand Hate hierarchy true haters display “Boiling Brand Hate” while regular haters reveal “Seething Brand Hate.” Two additional studies were developed to examine the relationship between consumer personality traits and Brand Hate, exploring which types of consumers are more prone to feel hatred toward targeted brands. Study‐II's findings revealed a relationship between consumers who are high in personality traits of “conscientiousness” and those who Brand Hate. Study‐III's findings indicated that “self‐confident” and “competitive” consumers might also be more prone to feel hatred toward those brands that perform poorly and unethically.

Anti‐consumption in the context of brand relationships

“…Since then, an increasing number of researchers have investigated various aspects of brand hate. These studies have provided an understanding of the antecedents and outcomes of brand hate (Bryson, Atwal, & Hultén, 2013;Hegner , Fetscherin, & van Delzen, 2017) alongside its multidimensionality (Zarantonello et al, 2016), how brand hate evolves over time (Zarantonello et al, 2018), how it is related to certain personality traits (Kucuk, 2019), and that there are different types of brand hate (Fetscherin, 2019). However, the literature also outlines milder emotional responses such as brand dislike (Alba & Lutz, 2013;Demirbag-Kaplan, Yildirim, Gulden, & Aktan, 2015;Romani, Grappi, & Dalli, 2012), brand avoidance, brand switching (Gelbrich, 2010;Hogg, Banister, & Stephenson, 2009;Kavaliauskė & Simanaviči utė, 2015;Lee et al, 2009b), or complaining (Halstead & Page, 1992).…”

Developing a theory of brand hate: Where are we now?

“…"Approach" and "Attack," which could be called the AAA, or 3As, of brand hate consequences. These consequences are hierarchical in nature, the avoidance type of consequences can indicate mild brand hate, the approach type is an indicator of medium brand hate, and the attack type indicates severe brand hate (Kucuk, 2019a(Kucuk, , 2019b. Companies need to increase their consumer engagement efforts in order to influence the consequences of brand hate.…”

“…In the literature, the brand hate concept is mostly discussed from an emotional perspective, which helps us to understand the emotions behind the different types of consumer brand hatred (Bryson, Atwal, & Hultén, 2013;Fetscherin, 2019;Hegner, Fetscherin, & Van Delzen, 2017;Kucuk, 2019b;Romani, Grappi, Zarantonello, & Bagozzi, 2015;Zarantonello et al, 2016;Zarantonello, Romani, Grappi, & Fetscherin, 2018;Zhang & Laroche, 2020). Some studies classified brand hate emotions in a "mild," "modest," and "severe" emotional format (Kucuk, 2016a(Kucuk, , 2019bZhang & Laroche, 2020), some others classified these emotions as "passive" and "active" emotions (Kucuk, 2016a;Zarantonello et al, 2016). Various single brand hate emotions are tested in these studies, from "irritation, distancing, avoidance" to "disgust, sadness, loathing," and finally "anger, fear, aggression" (Fetscherin, 2019;Hegner et al, 2017;Kucuk, 2016a;Kucuk, 2019b;Zarantonello et al, 2016;Zhang & Laroche, 2020).…”

“…Some studies classified brand hate emotions in a "mild," "modest," and "severe" emotional format (Kucuk, 2016a(Kucuk, , 2019bZhang & Laroche, 2020), some others classified these emotions as "passive" and "active" emotions (Kucuk, 2016a;Zarantonello et al, 2016). Various single brand hate emotions are tested in these studies, from "irritation, distancing, avoidance" to "disgust, sadness, loathing," and finally "anger, fear, aggression" (Fetscherin, 2019;Hegner et al, 2017;Kucuk, 2016a;Kucuk, 2019b;Zarantonello et al, 2016;Zhang & Laroche, 2020). Although some of these emotions can be related to each other, there is no absolute consensus on each specific emotion's role in various brand hate conceptualizations.…”

It might be ethical, but I won't buy it: Perceived contamination of, and disgust towards, clothing made from recycled plastic bottles

“…Disgust influences consumer perceptions and behavior across a wide‐ranging number of contexts including food (Baker, Shin, & Kim, 2016; Lowe, Fraser, & Souza‐Monteiro, 2015), firm ethics (Kucuk, 2019; Schmalz, & Orth, 2012; Xie, & Bagozzi, 2019), and marketing/advertising (Aaker, Stayman, & Vezina, 1988; Chan, 2019). For example, Motoki and Sugiura (2018, p. 76) find that disgust is a “distinct emotion of appraisal” operating apart from other emotive responses, as disgusted consumers negatively evaluate food more than sad consumers.…”