Country-of-origin, animosity and consumer response: Marketing implications of anti-Americanism and Francophobia

Abstract

Anti-Americanism and Francophobia express a consistent hostility toward the government, culture, history or people of the US and France or the Francophonie (the global community of French-speaking peoples). This study explores interactions between country-of-origin (COO) effects and animosity expressed through anti-Americanism and Francophobia through analysis of scholarly studies, several decades of articles from the general and online press in the US and France, and ethnographic fieldwork in France and the US results reveal interesting inconsistencies and variability in national expressions of consumer animosity and response to COO cues over the time of the study, underlining the need for further longitudinal study of animosity, COO effects and consumer response. Implications of findings are examined with reference to theory development, marketing practice, and public policy.