The five types of brand hate: How they affect consumer behavior

By Marc Fetscherin. Journal of business research, 2019

194 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Drawing from Sternberg's (2003) triangular theory of hate, this paper conceptualizes and tests the theory in the branding context. Based on two studies with 712 consumers (study 1 = 349; study 2 = 363) who mentioned 266 brands they hate, the authors first validate Sternberg's (2003) theory of interpersonal hate relationships in connection with brand relationships. The empirical analyses confirm that brand hate is a multi-dimensional construct consisting of three key emotions: disgust, contempt, and anger. Our research shows there are five types of brand hate, depending on the combination of these emotions, each leading to different behavioral outcomes, including brand switching, private and public complaining, brand retaliation, and willingness to make financial sacrifices to hurt the brand. The paper concludes with a discussion on theoretical and managerial implications and limitations.

Subfields: Cognitive Neuroscience, Marketing, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/52f86e23a296417c038431f7dca1572589a0afe7

Citations in the corpus

• I love you, but you let me down! How hate and retaliation damage customer-brand relationship (2022, unknown): “Reinforcing this perspective, Fetscherin (2019) also suggested that anger, a manifestation of brand hate, prompts the customers experiencing it to lash out and seek vengeance with the said brand.”