Brand activism: Does courting controversy help or hurt a brand?

Abstract

How do consumers react when brands take a stand on controversial socio-political issues? The results from a series of studies, involving both unknown and well-known brands, show that attitudes towards the brand decreased substantially among consumers who disagreed with a brand's stand, whereas there was no significant effect among consumers who were supportive of the brand's stand (Studies 1–4). This asymmetric effect of brand activism holds not only for brand attitude but also for consumers' behavioral intentions (Study 2) and actual choices (Study 1B). When consumers perceived the relationship between the brand and the source of the stand to be more distant, the negative effect of brand activism was weaker because it allowed consumers to morally decouple the brand from the stand (Study 3). Only when a brand faced public backlash because of its moral stand did we find a marginal increase in brand attitude among the proponents of the stand. However, when the brand subsequently withdrew its stand and apologized, the attitude towards the brand decreased among both the proponents and opponents of the stand (Study 4). We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings and call for further research on brand activism.