What Is Anti-Branding? How It Is Related to Social Media

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The Answer is Anti-branding activities are websites, accounts on social media or other forms of digital presence, created and managed by dissatisfied and angry consumers, or even the members of the general public who never had any relationship with the brand that is being talked about. It is important to understand that anti-branding is much more than complaining. According to Krishnamurthy and Kucuk (2009), complaint and product evaluation forums are focusing on transactional dissatisfaction and product quality respectively, while anti-brand websites are focusing on affecting individual consumption through the construction of a negative brand identity. Anti-branding activities are more likely to address a wider range of issues beyond bad customer experience, such as cultural, technological, political, and legal issues. The main antecedent of anti-branding is consumer empowerment (technological, economic, social, and legal). While anti-branding activities usually have a long(er)-term lifespan than social media storms, these two constructs could be seen as interconnected. For example, the presence of anti-branding activities (e.g., an anti-brand website) can support the emergence of a social media storm. On the other hand, social media storm can initiate the emergence of anti-branding content, that will stick around much longer than the storm itself.

What Is Anti-Branding? How It Is Related to Social Media

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