What Is Brand Hate?
In this chapter, the concept of brand hate is defined in light of the general psychology of hate as discussed in the previous chapter. The components of brand hate are conceptualized as cold, cool and hot vis-à-vis consumer psychology and behavior literat
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What Is Brand Hate?
Abstract In this chapter, the concept of brand hate is defined in light of the general psychology of hate as discussed in the previous chapter. The components of brand hate are conceptualized as cold, cool and hot vis-àvis consumer psychology and behavior literature. Types of consumer brand hate and potential hate interactions among various consumer behaviors are discussed. The conceptual link between brand hate and anti-branding is developed. Furthermore, various forms of brand hate emotions from different social contexts are introduced, such as “brand bullying”. This chapter provides a broader conceptual context for the concept of brand hate, its components and its degrees ( defined as severity of brand hate). Keywords Brand hate • Cold brand hate • Cool brand hate • Hot brand hate • Anti-branding • Severity of brand hate • Brand bullying I don’t really hate it any more than I hate any of the other brands I hate, but sure, I hate Dell as much as the rest. Anonymous Consumer
Hate in psychology literature is generally discussed in terms of interpersonal relationships. However, people can also feel hate towards objects that represent systems of meaning to which they are opposed. Thus, hatred for a person or “interpersonal hate” and hatred for an
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 S.U. Kucuk, Brand Hate, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-41519-2_2
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object or “object hate” can be different. Research has found that about a third of student respondents associate their hate with “something” rather than “someone” (e.g. I hate McDonald’s).1 This kind of hate, or “object hate”, is not studied and discussed in either consumer psychology and behavior theories nor in general psychology. It is not clear whether people ascribe more valence to actions against persons or objects they hate. However, research shows that people interact with brands like their friends, enemies and acquaintances and they share with them their feelings and emotions in different forms—attributing human characteristics to the brands.2 On the other hand, there is no research into whether people’s interpersonal hate can get more severe than object hate, or vice versa. Also, every consumer attaches different emotions to different brands, and different emotions can be triggered when we see different brands. You feel happiness when you see one specific brand, while you feel hate and anger when you see another brand. Brand hate, in this context, is not studied as widely as brand love in both consumer behavior and psychology literatures. In other words, brand hate is a relatively new concept and needs to be discussed in depth in the next section in light of the previous examination of the psychology of hate.
BRAND HATE When brand hate is pronounced in any conversation or discussion, the first thing people think is that brand hate should be a polarized version of brand love. In short, it is thought that it is the opposite of brand love. However, it is not clear that this is in fact the case, and there is plenty
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