How Brand Activism Influences Consumer Perception of The Celebrities, Companies, and Advertisements That Contain Controversial Content
Open Access
Author:
Cochran, Abigail
Area of Honors:
Marketing (Behrend)
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Eunjoo Han, Thesis Supervisor Michael Edward Brown, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Brand Preference Purchase Intention Controversial Advertisements Brand Activism Political Ideology
Abstract:
Brand activism occurs when a brand shows their political views in their commercials and advertisements. My thesis aims to determine how consumers respond to companies practicing brand activism, and advertisements that contain the companies’ stance on controversial social, and political topics, and celebrities endorsing the advertisements. Through a review of existing literature on brand activism and empirical tests of my hypotheses, I demonstrate that consumers’ brand preference influences their responses to brand activism practices. More specifically, consumers' brand preferences towards a company will favorably influence consumers’ responses to the company supporting social issues. Furthermore, consumers who have a positive opinion towards a company or a higher brand preference will respond more favorably to controversial advertisements that the company produces. This same concept can be applied to influencers used in the advertisements. For instance, consumers who have a brand preference for the celebrity or influencer are likely to respond more favorably to the influencer or celebrity supporting the brand’s stance on controversial or social issues. However, there was no significant evidence of consumers’ political ideology affecting their brand preference. When looking at purchase intention, consumers who have a stronger brand preference are likely to purchase the products shown in the controversial advertisements.
