The power of controversy - the effect of brand authenticity

• Autor(a) principal: López, Ximena Lizárraga
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/144983
• topic: Consumer behavior; Controversial brands; Brand activism; Brand authenticity; Belief-driven consumers; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Economia e Gestão

Brands are increasingly touching on controversial issues and maintain a position in reaction, making it important to understand how consumers perceive and respond to these brands. But, what does consumers feel when brands take a public stand on controversial socio-political issues? How do they respond to these actions? Do they perceive them as authentic? In this work project I ran an experiment involving a fictional brand and its level of commitment to a socio-political controversial issue (brand activism commitment). Results showed brand activism commitment has a positive effect on perceived brand authenticity. This effect of brand activism commitment holds also for consumers’ purchase intentions. In summary, higher commitment induces higher perceived authenticity, which leads to a higher purchase intention.