Brand activism in marketing strategies and its effects on consumer behaviour

Abstract

There is an open discussion in the business community on whether brands should take stances on socio-political divisive issues or not. The aim of this research is to get a deeper insight on the effects that brand activism has on consumer behaviour. Using a quantitative approach from data obtained through a survey contrasted with other real case studies, it was found that prior brand attachment results into a partial reduction of the negative effect of brand activism, apologizing for the brand’s position only worsens the attitude of all consumers, and the long term effect of brand activism differs from the one in the short term, since in the long-run firms may expect a positive outcome from the activist strategy and the opposers' attitude is no longer affected by their activism. This provides marketing managers with added information to get a better picture on the decision-making process.