1. Theory of Brand Hate Professor Marc Fetscherin
Director, Department of Business
Rollins College, USA
Presentation for
5th International Consumer Brand Relationships Conference

2. Agenda Introduction Literature Review Theory of Hate Results
Conclusion and Limitations

3. Most research on positive emotions
Most research focuses on the positive consumer emotions
brand satisfaction or loyalty (Bloemer and Kasper, 1995)
brand attachment (Thomson, MacInnis, & Park, 2005)
brand passion (Albert et al.,2012)
brand romance (Patwardhan & Balasubramanian, 2011)
brand resonance (e.g. Keller, 2009)
brand love (Batra, Ahuvia,& Bagozzi, 2012, Fetscherin, 2015)

4. 93%    93% of hate one brand People heat a brand
Psychology: „Negative bias“ (Ito et al., 1998) meaning people weight negative information more than positive ones
Neuroscience: Brain handles positive and negative information in different hemispheres (Fossati et al. 2003)
Marketing: 93% of consumers hate one brand (Bryson et al., 2010)
Potential for consumers to express their dislike grew significantly with the Internet (Gregoire et al., 2009)
Number of ‘brand hate’ sites increased over the last years (Kucuk, 2008; Krishnamurthy & Kucuk, 2009)
People heat a brand

6. Agenda Introduction Literature Review Theory of Hate Results
Conclusion and Limitations

7. Literature Review Branding research on: Most are outcome/behaviors
brand avoidance (Lee, 2008; Lee et al. 2009)
brand rejection (Sandikci & Ekici, 2009)
brand opposition (Wolter et al. 2016)
brand revenge (Zourrig et al. 2009) or retaliation (Gregoire & Fisher, 2006)
brand divorce (Sussan, Hall and Meamber, 2012)
brand sabotage (Kähr, et al. 2016)
brand dislike (Dalli et al., 2007)
Most are outcome/behaviors
Very few studies focus on ‚brand hate‘ construct (Kucuk, 2008; Krishnamurthy & Kucuk, 2009, Bryson et al., 2010, Zarantonello et al., 2016, Hegner, Fetscherin, and van Delzen, 2017).

8. Brand Dislike vs. Brand Hate Willingness to hate $ (WTH)
Outcome of Brand Hate
brand sabotage (Kähr, et al. 2016)
Brand Dislike vs. Brand Hate
Behavioral Outcomes
Take a Flight
Strategy
Fighting Strategy
Indirect Vengeance
(Negative word of mouth)
No Vengeance
Direct Vengeance
Brand Avoidance or
Brand Switching*
Private Complaining
(weak)
Public
Complaining
(strong)
Brand Revenge
(long term)
Brand Retaliation
(short term)
Willingness to hate $ (WTH)
Other terms used
* Nenycz-Thiel and Romaniuk, (2011) used the term ‘brand rejection’ for brand avoidance.
** Wolter et al., (2015) used ‘brand opposition’ which is a combination of brand avoidance and nWOM.
*** All outcome then lead to what Sussan et al., (2012) calls ‘brand divorce’

9. Contribution of Study
Most studies focus on outcomes rather than the study of the emotion
Few study brand hate, despite hate is the second most important emotion after love (Fehr and Russell 1984)
Debate if hate is a single (Shaver et al 1987) or complex emotion (Sternberg 2003)
No study assessed the psychological theory underlying brand hate
Against this background, this study contributes:
Focus on brand hate as a multi-dimensional construct
Applying Sternberg’s triangular theory of hate (2003) to brands
Introduce a new outcome variable “willingness to hurt the brand”

10. Agenda Introduction Literature Review Theory of Hate Results
Conclusion and Limitations

11. HATE
LOVE

12. Theory of Hate Hate Negation of Intimacy Disgust
Commitment Devaluation/Diminution
Passion Anger/Fear
Hate
Negation of intimacy: seeking large physical and mental distance from a brand such as brand avoidance
Commitment: notion of negative feelings in an indirect way such as negative WOM
Passion: notion of anger and more active and direct way such as brand retaliation

13. Seven Types of Hate Negation of Intimacy Commitment Passion
Cool Hate
Simmering Hate
Seething
Hate
Hot Hate
Cold Hate
Boiling Hate
Burning
Figure 1: Seven types of hate (Sternberg, 2003, p. 73)

14. Research Model

15. Agenda Introduction Literature Review Theory of Hate Results
Conclusion and Limitations

16. Methodology Survey using Qualtrics
3 Empirical studies using MTurk for data collection
371 brands studied
1,116 consumers (349, 363 and 404 respectively)
Multiple statistical reliability and validity tests (e.g., Cronbach Alpha, CR, AVE, SIC, correlation matrixes, EFA and CFA)

17. Most Hated Brands

18. Study 1 & 2    93% of hate one brand
Psychology: „Negative bias“ (Ito et al., 1998) meaning people weight negative information more than positive ones
Neuroscience: Brain handles positive and negative information in different hemispheres (Fossati et al. 2003)
Marketing: 93% of consumers hate one brand (Bryson et al., 2010)
Potential for consumers to express their dislike grew significantly with the Internet (Gregoire et al., 2009)
Number of ‘brand hate’ sites increased over the last years (Kucuk, 2008; Krishnamurthy & Kucuk, 2009)

19. Results with Brand Hate
Brand Avoidance
R2 = 00
Private Complaining
R2 = .03
Public Complaining
R2 = .51
Brand Hate
R2 = .37
Commitment
Passion
Brand Revenge
R2 = .68
Brand Retaliation
R2 = .33
Negation of Intimacy
-.16**
.28**
.52**
.83 **
.00
.72 **
.16**
.57 **
Study 1
Brand Avoidance
R2 = .00
Private Complaining
R2 = .07
Public Complaining
R2 = .62
Brand Hate
R2 = .48
Commitment
Passion
Brand Revenge
R2 = .84
Brand Retaliation
R2 = .43
Negation of Intimacy
-.18**
.20**
.64**
.92**
.00
.78**
.27**
.65**
Study 2

20. Results - Dimensionality
Brand Hate Construct
Sign
Study 1
Study 2
Hypothesis
Negation of intimacy  Brand Hate +
-.16**
-.18**
()
Commitment  Brand Hate
.28**
.20** 
Passion  Brand Hate
.52**
.64**
R-square of Brand Hate
.37
.48
Table : Dimensionality of Brand Hate

21. Results - Outcomes Hypothesis Path Sign Study 1 Study 2 Supported
Study 2 (WTH)
Supported
H1: Brand Hate  Brand Avoidance +
.00 
H2: Brand Hate  Private Complaining
.16**
.27** 
H3: Brand Hate  Public Complaining
.72**
.78**
.77**
H4: Brand Hate  Brand Retaliation
.57**
.65**
.63**
H5: Brand Hate  Brand Revenge
.83**
.92**
H6: Brand Hate  WTH
n/a
.48**
Table : Hypotheses Testing

22. Type of Hate – Outcome Variables
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23. Brand Avoidance (Cool Hate)
Different type of hates and outcomes
Negation of Intimacy
Commitment
Passion
Brand Avoidance (Cool Hate)
Private Complaining
(Simmering Hate)
Public Complaining
Brand Revenge
(Seething Hate)
Brand Retaliation
Willingness to Hate
(Hot Hate)

24. Study 3    93% of hate one brand
Psychology: „Negative bias“ (Ito et al., 1998) meaning people weight negative information more than positive ones
Neuroscience: Brain handles positive and negative information in different hemispheres (Fossati et al. 2003)
Marketing: 93% of consumers hate one brand (Bryson et al., 2010)
Potential for consumers to express their dislike grew significantly with the Internet (Gregoire et al., 2009)
Number of ‘brand hate’ sites increased over the last years (Kucuk, 2008; Krishnamurthy & Kucuk, 2009)

25. Brand Hate Scale (study 2)
Study 3: Predictive Validity
Type of Brand Hate Outcome*
Brand Hate Scale (study 2) R2
NEB Scale (study 3)**
Private Complaining
26.7%
> 
13.5%
Public Complaining
25.3%
21.2%
Brand Retaliation
18.1%
17.7%
Brand Revenge
34.8%
24.6%
Willingness to hurt
14.3%
14.2%
*Brand Avoidance was not significant.
** NEB based on Romani, Simona, Silvia Grappi, and Daniele Dalli. "Emotions that drive consumers away from brands: Measuring negative emotions toward brands and their behavioral effects." International Journal of Research in Marketing 29, no. 1 (2012):

26. Agenda Introduction Literature Review Theory of Hate Results
Conclusion and Limitations

27. Willingness to hate (WTH)
Brand Avoidance
Private Complaining
(weak)
Public
Complaining
(strong)
Brand Revenge
(long term)
Brand Retaliation
(short term)
Willingness to hate (WTH)
Negation of intimacy
Passion
Commitment
Cool
Hate
Simmering
Burning
Burning Hate
Boiling
Hot
Type of
Component
Conclusion
Provide a theory for brand hate
Brand hate is a multi-dimensional construct
Brand hate triggers fighting strategies only
NoI: Weak emotional responses
Commitment: ‘In the middle’
Passion: Strong emotional responses
Different type of hates lead to different outcomes

28. Willingness to hate (WTH)
Brand Avoidance
Private Complaining
(weak)
Public
Complaining
(strong)
Brand Revenge
(long term)
Brand Retaliation
(short term)
Willingness to hate (WTH)
Negation of intimacy
Passion
Commitment
Cool
Hate
Simmering
Burning
Burning Hate
Boiling
Hot
Type of
Component
Limitations
Underhill (2012) argue, love and hate are socially and culturally constructed. Cross-cultural validation
Study is one point in time. Assess brand hate over time
Effect of personality traits on brand hate
Brand dislike  Brand avoidance?
Relationship of brand hate and brand love
Explore further WTH with non-monetary aspects (e.g., brand sabotage)

30. Thank you

31. Descriptive Samples

32. Model Fit Indexes Study 1 (n=349) Study 2 (n=363)
Study 1 (n=349)
Study 2 (n=363)
Research model (3-factor)
Harman’s test (1-factor)
Threshold χ2
χ2/df
2.238/926
5.636/929
2.241/950
6.705/953
≤ 3.000
IFI
.921
.705
.924
.650
≥ .900
TLI
.912
.669
.917
.618
CFI
.703
.648
RMSEA
.060
.115
.059
.126
≤ .060

33. Defining Brand Hate
Brand hate is an extreme negative emotion. It is a strong emotional response of anger, contempt or disgust for a brand. It leads to either ‘take a flight’ or ‘fighting’ response to a brand

34. Willingness to hate (WTH)
Different type of hates and outcomes
Brand Avoidance
Private Complaining
(weak)
Public
Complaining
(strong)
Brand Revenge
(long term)
Brand Retaliation
(short term)
Willingness to hate (WTH)
Negation of intimacy
Passion
Commitment
Cool
Hate
Simmering
Burning
Burning Hate
Boiling
Hot
Type of
Component Brand Hate

35. Seven Types of Hate Negation of intimacy Commitment Passion Cool hate
Negation of intimacy
Commitment
Passion
Cool hate X -
Cold Hate
Hot hate
Simmering hate
Boiling hate
Seething hate
Burning hate
Table 1: Seven types of hate (Sternberg, 2003, p. 73)

36. However…
Psychology: „Negative bias“ (Ito et al., 1998) meaning people weight negative information more than positive ones
Neuroscience: Brain handles positive and negative information in different hemispheres (Fossati et al. 2003)
Marketing: 93% of consumers hate one brand (Bryson et al., 2010)
Potential for consumers to express their dislike grew significantly with the Internet (Gregoire et al., 2009)
Number of ‘brand hate’ sites increased over the last years (Kucuk, 2008; Krishnamurthy & Kucuk, 2009)

38. Results Direct Relationships*
Brand Avoidance
R2 = 06
Private Complaining
R2 = .25
Public Complaining
R2 = .33
Commitment
Passion
Brand Revenge
R2 = .30
Brand Retaliation
R2 = .14
Negation of Intimacy
.26**
.39**
.33**
.52**
.25**
.14*
.38**
.43**
Study 1
Brand Avoidance
R2 = 12
Private Complaining
R2 = .20
Public Complaining
R2 = .37
Commitment
Passion
Brand Revenge
R2 = .47
Brand Retaliation
R2 = .35
Negation of Intimacy
.24**
.18**
.52**
.64**
.34**
.18*
.56**
.38**
Study 2
* For simplicity. Only positive relationships shown here