I can’t stop hating you: an anti-brand-community perspective on apple brand hate
Journal of Product & Brand Management
ISSN: 1061-0421
Article publication date: 23 November 2020
Issue publication date: 12 November 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to the literature on negative consumer-brand relationships by advancing knowledge on the key triggers of brand hate of global and prominent brands. It investigates for the first time the role of brand in triggering brand hate, as well as behavioral and emotional brand hate outcomes, i.e. willingness to punish and negative brand engagement. Additionally, it explores the impact of product ownership and previous love feelings in the formation of brand hate.
Design/methodology/approach
The data collection was conducted on two Apple anti-brand communities after the given consent of its administrators. Data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling.
Findings
The paper suggests that brand hate is a construct with four first-order formative triggers (symbolic incongruity, ideological incompatibility, negative past experience and brand inauthenticity). It also demonstrates that brand hate is a dichotomous concept that comprises negative emotional dimensions (i.e. negative brand engagement) and behavioral dimensions (i.e. brand aversion, negative word-of-mouth and willingness to punish brands). Finally, it shows how brand hate differs among users vs non-users and passionate vs non-passionate consumers of Apple.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature on negative consumer-brand relationships by advancing knowledge on the key triggers and outcomes of brand hate of global and prominent brands. More importantly, it demonstrates empirically that brand hate does not occur at a specific point of time and may result in transient hatred motivated by emotion-eliciting events (e.g. using a product) or as a long-term consumer-brand relationship that changed from love to hatred.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Dr Tatiana Anisimova (Linnaeus University) for her constructive comments on designing our survey.
This work is supported by national funding’s of FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., in the project UIDB/04005/2020.
Citation
Rodrigues, C., Brandão, A. and Rodrigues, P. (2021), "I can’t stop hating you: an anti-brand-community perspective on apple brand hate", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 30 No. 8, pp. 1115-1133. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-10-2019-2621
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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