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Exploring political consumerism and the emerging role of political brand personality
Journal of Brand Strategy,
11
(2),
180-195
(2022)
Abstract
This paper explores how an established practice of political consumerism (ie consumers punishing or rewarding on the basis of politics) influences a new notion of political brand personality (PBP: the perceived political attributes of a brand). Study 1 identifies and delineates PBP traits. Study 2 assesses and applies foundational PBP traits to prominent US firms. Study 3 empirically investigates how PBP influences consumer decision-making across unidentifiable experimental firms. Results show that people do ascribe distinct political traits to brands and that consumer behaviour is significantly affected by PBP. Consumers seek self-congruency in which their political values are in line with the PBP traits projected by the products they purchase. These findings give rise to myriad theoretical and managerial implications.
Keywords: political; brand personality; political consumerism; self-congruence; political brand personality
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Kathryn R. Mercurio began her career in the marketing department at Nestle USA in Southern California. After receiving her doctorate from the University of Washington, she worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, and taught in the evening MBA programme at California State University (CSU), Northridge. She joined the faculty at the University of Oregon and worked there for six years. In 2018, Katie joined CSU, Chico, as an assistant professor of marketing, where she teaches principles of marketing, marketing research, sustainability and marketing, international marketing and consumer psychology and brand strategy at both the undergraduate and MBA levels. Katie is an active researcher, and has published in the Journal of Consumer Research, Advances in Consumer Research, and Wiley International Encyclopedia of Marketing.
K. Damon Aiken Damon Aiken is the Thomas Family Fellow in Business at California State University, Chico. His industry background includes work in telecommunications and petrochemicals. Since receiving his PhD from the University of Oregon, he has won six teaching awards, including the Marketing Management Association’s Teaching Excellence Award. His wide-ranging research interests include geographic branding, compulsive consumption of sport, unusual fan behaviours, ‘old school’ values in sport, effects of music on education and Internet trust transference. He has published in the Journal of Business Research, Journal of Product and Brand Management, Sport Marketing Quarterly and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science.
