Brand hate navigating consumer negativity in the digital world

Brand hate , in this context, is not studied as widely as brand love in both consumer behavior and psychology literatures.. In other words, brand hate is a relatively new concept and nee

Brand Hate

Navigating Consumer Negativity in the Digital World

2nd ed 2019

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Fig 3.2 Pictorial presentation of the company-related brand hate antecedents (Dotted linesindicate PSF by CSR interaction effects)

Fig 7.3 Algorithm of brand hate management

Fig 7.4 Brand hate negotiation

Table 1.1 Perceived injustice and hate

Table 2.1 Typology of anti-brand sites with regard to the NDJ matrix

Understanding Brand Hate

forms of hate from low level to high level (or alternatively severe hate) in terms of Sternberg’sTriangular hate model After reading this chapter, readers should have a basic understanding

behavioral sciences Part of the reason is because hate is so negative and disturbing a feelingthat generally people do not want to talk about it, preferring to ignore it Yet, its impact andinfluence is always present at both conscious and unconscious cognitive levels Neuro-

chemists discovered that when we are dealing with negative events, our body produces

higher level cortisol, a hormone that shuts down thinking center of our brain and activatesconflict aversion and protection behaviors, which eventually makes us to perceive negativeevents with greater emphasize than actually exists 1 Similarly, some scholars claim that

negative emotions and negativity in general have a deeper impact on human feelings thanpositive feelings, cognition , and behaviors Research has revealed that people tend to recallnegative events more easily than positive ones and that negative experiences have a deeperimpact on people’s attitudes and behaviors than positive ones 2 This, in turn, can be

conceptualized as “negativity bias ”, 3 meaning that people tend to weigh negative

we prefer to ignore this very important emotion

On the one end of the negativity , we have hate , and on the other end of the positivity, wehave love Love and hate are building blocks of our emotional lives However, non-existence

of love doesn’t necessarily indicate hate or vice versa (Sternberg 2003) Neither hate can

necessarily be defined as total opposite of love as these two strongest human emotions canalso exist together as Sprott (2004, p 304) discusses “one can love some things about one’s

partner and hate others at the same time” Interestingly enough, in some romantic

relationships, the deeper the love between partners, the deeper the hate gets when thingsdidn’t work out 5 It is ironic to say that but perhaps the love is the source of the hatred we feel

in some cases Either way, having feelings of both hate and love are how people give meaningand reasons to their lives, sometimes in a peaceful way with love and other times in a painfulway with hate However, as human beings, we like to see the positive side and tend to ignorenegatives most of the time We love to love and we hate to hate , and we want to be happy allthe time We do not want to think about negative results and feel hatred, even though it isperhaps sometimes a reasonable and logical outcome of our behaviors This is in our nature

We want to see happy endings in every event In other words, we are all programed to thinkpositively—which is, I believe, our main life source Positive thinking makes us happy andeverybody wants to be happy At certain points, it can be said that we are passively addicted

to our happiness It is like watching Disney movies, which always feature happy endings

Everything should be perfect, and the good guys are always the winners, not the bad guys Wejust cannot stand a situation in which a bad guy beats a good guy That makes us unhappy, and

ending syndrome” This syndrome is sometimes so blinding that we do not listen to or evenlike people who always think negatively about events or situations We are all in search of ourown Disney-like happy endings in our lives, and we want to make sure we are not hunted byany negativity Thus, the question is: Are we drugged with our need for happiness, and do weblind ourselves by thinking positively and denying the negativity and hurtful truth

we feel pain and perhaps hatred toward the self-defined bad guy This is what I call “happy-surrounding us, even though we include them in our decision-making processes? At somepoints, such negativity will drag in hate and we simply do not want to go into that darknessand those hateful feelings But they are there nonetheless Perhaps we want to repress some

of those negative and hateful feelings and deny the reality

Showing hate is not acceptable in many societies and cultures, although people might feelhate and all sorts of other negative emotions on a daily basis Although hate can be seen to be

as natural a feeling as love , showing anger and hatred is socially unacceptable and can even

be seen as a criminal act in many cultures In other words, hate is a hidden and mostly

repressed feeling and can generally be seen in a passive form in public rather than in activeform Thus, those emotions exist but are buried deep in our subconscious Sometimes whenpeople see an angry person, they say things like “it was shocking to see a crazy animal comeout from that nice guy” The truth is that negative emotion or hate is with us wherever we go,and we just need an incident to trigger our hateful feelings But it is so unacceptable to seethose negative emotions come out that some researchers define hateful feelings and hatred

recollections define who we are, or perhaps who we are not and therefore develop our egoand identity Along the way, through learning who we are not, we discover the version of

ourselves that we hate

When we love and accept somebody else, we give up our ego or our self-identity and

simply accept the loved person’s identity in a controlled manner; in fact, we try to be like

them That is how we build our personality from childhood On the other hand, when we hatesomeone, we keep a tight grip on our very essence of self in order to differentiate ourselvesfrom that hated side This is needed, as it defines us as a person In other words, we hate andgenerate self-created enemies to satisfy our own ego This might make sense from an

unconscious, psychological point of view Naturally, we feel threatened by the existence of theunwanted self or identity , as Freud explains; we, as human beings, start dreaming that personwas dead, even if they were loved by us in the past

In this context, if our ego is threatened or if our vulnerability of self-image is revealed, inturn, we want to regain a sense of power and try to get even with the other side in order toprotect our defective image of ourselves 8 Sometimes, we create these power games in ourminds and fashion self-made enemies to protect our self-image, even though they do not

made enemies In other words, whoever makes us feel less worthy, vulnerable, and weak willeventually make us feel threatened and come to deserve our hate That is where hate startsand where ordinary people turn into monsters and violent and hateful individuals They losethe very essence of their self We start to frame those people negatively to our friends andsociety to protect our self-image and, in fact, to promote ourselves 9 Sharing and spreadingour hate turns into a holy mission for some as we derive comfort if more people hate the

know that we see them as our enemies Unfortunately, we feel entitled to attack such self-same person, group, or object In other words, hate can be contagious if others also share thesimilar identities and social values with the hater The need for rightfulness and social

them mentality

support that suits the hater’s ego eventually transform the individual hate into us-versus-Overall, hate and negativity can easily be triggered when we are vulnerable and threatened

as we are all influenced by various types of prejudice throughout our lives In this context,

“threatened self ” or “threatened egotism ” as conceptualized in psychology literature can beseen as some of the main elements of hate , as follows

Threatened Egotism and Hate

In psychology, hate is also discussed broadly within the threatened egotism concept 10 Thisstream of literature looks at threatened egoism in terms of the conflict between a person’spositive and negative self People can get this feeling easily, even if someone has threatened

shapes our personality and makes us who we are But if we feel that somebody is attackingthe very core of ourselves (positive self), this, in turn, can trigger a hateful response Peoplereveal negative emotions toward representations of negative selves to safeguard their ownselves However, if a person has strong fundamentals within his/her positive base or—inother words, if they have good self-esteem —that person perhaps shows less hateful

behaviors, aggression , and violence It is considered that low self-esteem people may havemore tendency to aggression and hate , as such people are less secure about their own

positive self and ready to attack their negative selves 11 Although some research shows thatlow self-esteem people can be less violent (specifically women can have lower self-esteemthan men), 12 this does not mean that they feel less hate toward negatives Yet, there is notenough empirical evidence to support this potential relationship Alternatively, narcissistic ,and egoistical people show aggression when they are criticized, and/or their ego comes

under attack 13 People whose ego and pride is threatened can in fact sacrifice their personalgains and hold deep desires for revenge against the people who threatened them This is

especially true when the person whose ego is insulted perceives the insult as a falsely justifiedact Interestingly, if a person perceives the insult to his/her ego as true, he/she might prefer apassive response and perhaps accept the insult and silently move on 14 On the other hand, ifthe person sees the reasoning behind this insult as justified or true, that might actually

generate more hate In other words, the person does not feel threatened as long as the personsees the criticism as real, justified, and true

Perceived Injustice and Hate

This, in turn , shifts the focus on to another important factor: the truth behind the justification

of the insult This justification can be well-rounded for the hater but not for the hated side orperhaps not for a third party A hater’s prejudice and perception of truth can eventually

determine the level of hate felt by them Thus, the important question is: “How do haters

justify their hate ?” If there is no sound justification for a person’s hatred toward another, thatperson, in turn, can be labeled as a psychopath Dehumanizing and demonizing the other sidejust because they are different feeds the basic level of hate In fact, this can be defined as

“prejudiced hate ” or “psychopathic hate ” (e.g., “all Muslims are terrorist or bad”) In this

case, attacking others’ negative selves can also give prejudiced haters a way of empathizingwith their positive selves In other words, this kind of hate has nothing to do with the hatedbut rather the haters themselves On the other hand, it is possible that some hateful feelingscan be logically well justified and might even make sense (e.g., “everybody hates liars”)

The problem, at this point, is how you define fair, true, and/or acceptable judgment onwhich everybody feels like they can agree This is almost impossible as everybody might havedifferent perceptions of the events, people, and objects When people feel that they are seeingunfair treatment or if they perceive an injustice , they will get upset and feel more cross This,

in turn, fuels hateful feelings toward the accused party Thus, perceived injustice is anothersignificant factor in defining the concept of hate In theory, hate is also discussed based on aparty’s negative prejudice, as it can generate irrational emotions and aggressive impulses 15

Although hate is seen as perceiving others negatively, the sense of rightness in the feeling is

threatened identity 16

Fair or unfair and justice or injustice are generally defined within a social value system inwhich right and wrong or legal and illegal are all delineated by society When there is no

strong social value system or legal system in a society, it can be difficult to for people to

justify their hate if it does not fit into social norms or the legal system Eventually, this createssocial chaos and depression In such cases, even though there is no system of reference,

people tend to develop their own system of judgment and justifications for their behaviors.But this personal judgment is limited by a person’s perception and capability to sense andunderstand all the influential factors This process indicates how people perceive injustice,not the truth, and it can be misleading most of the time and limited to the societies moralprinciples Nietzsche (2003) calls this kind of society “nation of priests ”, as everybody is

expected to act like a priest and keep telling each other what is right and what is wrong, whicheventually requires constant correction of your own and other’s behaviors This kind of rigidand dichotomous thinking make people uncomfortable with themselves and others if theydon’t fit such values as this puts them in small closed boxes and, in fact, creates a social unrestand hate through each other In such societies (nation of priests), individuals who follow theperceived right blindly are rewarded while the ones who question such values are sociallypunished or rejected by the society (even by law) Thus, this eventually empowers the oneswho followed the so-called and perceived morally right path, and they were praised and

promoted in society’s social hierarchy Nietzsche calls the individuals who blindly follow theexposed morality values as “herd-man ” (Nietzsche 1990, p 115) The herd-man can trulyhate if someone acts outside the scope of society’s moral circles The truth is all of us, or atleast majority of us, wanted to be loved, nurtured, and secured by a group or a society andtries to work hard to deserve the group’s love and acceptance In some ways, I feel like we allwant to be a herd-man as we need to be loved, cared, and protected, yet we don’t want to bebrainwashed and exploited by the value systems we are not consciously and fully

comprehend and aware of As Nietzsche (1990) indicated, we hold such social value systems

so deeply that, we are, most of the time, not even able to aware of them as value at all In fact,those values are imbedded so deeply into us that we even legalize them that we don’t acceptthe existence of another alternative or explanation Basically, such value systems become ourown truth even though they might not be the truth itself Thus, we uphold some of these

values with law to legitimize our social existence in this world

In this context, law could also be seen as representation of all people’s or at least the

majority’s agreement on a belief and or social values We all agree that crossing on a red light

is illegal , not yellow, blue, or pink light We all came up with the idea that everybody shouldstop in red light and developed this rule so that we could establish social order By developingthese agreed value systems, we legalize our social codes and behaviors and create our ownherd-man like behaviors Thus, if you cross on a red light, you are acting against society’s willand value system, which could be perceptional and change from culture to culture Similarly, ifyou fit into a social group, you are accepted and loved by the group Otherwise, it is possiblethat you will be gently pushed aside and rejected by the group Or, perhaps you will be hated.Thus, the legality and illegality dimensions used in Table 1.1 can be discussed with regard towhether a behavior or a person can fit socially with the group or not In a way, by legalizingsocial systems, we teach people how to channel their hate in an acceptable and rational way

Table 1.1 Perceived injustice and hate

Legal/socially acceptable Illegal/socially unacceptable

Fair Acceptance and love Moderate hate

Unfair Moderate hate Rejection and intense hate

Perceived injustice and unfairness are based on what a society decides is acceptable andunacceptable, based on how that society is influenced We are all influenced by events wehave witnessed, whether they are true or false, fair, or unfair

Rejection and Intense Hate

In a personal or professional relationship context, if somebody continuously treats you

unfairly and also denies the legal consequences of his/her actions, you will most likely hatethis person The duration of unfair behavior can also determine the level and degree of hate aperson might feel Imagine your boss is lowering your salary and harassing you without goodreason while others are getting fair treatment and raises In fact, some of your peers get

promotions even though they do not even deserve them from your point of view In that

scenario, perhaps you can even hate your peer who is unfairly promoted Even though youmight be protected by law, you probably will not want to take legal action and stand againstyour boss; perhaps you have low self-esteem or no trust to the system and will just accept thisunfairness and move on In this situation, your negative feelings and hate toward your bossincrease exponentially every time you find yourself undergoing an unfair, abusive, and illegaltreatment Some thinkers define hate through a person’s helplessness in a situation wherehis/her personhood is reduced 17 Others define hate in this context as “power inequality ” orasymmetric power structure in a system 18 This situation is indicated by the “Intense Hate ”box in Table 1.1 In a consumer–company relationship context, if a consumer cannot get theirmoney’s worth in a relationship with a service provider and the service provider refuses toprovide the promised services to a consumer, it is again expected that we would see someintense consumer hate against the company

Moderate Hate

You might perhaps hate the person who finds loopholes in the system and treats you unfairly.Imagine a tobacco company which is trying to build a cigarette factory in a less developedpart of the world They know that 90% of people will die of lung cancer or similar causes ifthey smoke Yet, they build a new cigarette factory and sell the cigarettes at lower prices sothat people can buy them This is not illegal , yet neither are these fair and ethical decisions.Similarly, imagine a company discovers a lifesaving medicine and put price tag on the pill ofabout half of your monthly income Thus, it does not give you the chance to live If you havemoney, you have a right to live, but if you do not, then you deserve to die This company’s act

is most likely not illegal , yet it is very unfair (while still acting within the rules of the

economic system created with everybody’s approval) You would probably try to find a way tojustify and legitimate your hatred toward this company This can be labeled as moderate hatesince the action is taken is not illegal Some people hate their parents and think that they are

Similarly, moderate hate can be generated by actions which are illegal but fair For

example, at the end of some action movies, you see that the main character or hero eventuallydefeats the bad guys, and for one second he hesitates to destroy them when he has the

chance For a moment, you feel that your hero will forgive bad guys and let them go One

wrong move and he kills them all The cops can see what happened, and even though they canarrest him for murder, they let him go because he did the right thing What the cops did in themovie is illegal actually, but it was fair to let the hero get away without any charge as he

violated and feel hate toward whoever is behind that act Love and hate are two closely

related concepts and represent the far limits of the continuum of human emotions Love

indicates acceptance and compassion, while hate is an emotional survival instinct when wefeel helpless and threatened by an intruder Although love can be fake, hate is always real andhas definitive power in shaping who we are and what we are capable of doing This is echoed

As pictured in Fig 1.1, some negative emotions can be very closely associated with hatesuch as anger , furious, mad while some others can be associated with moderately such asrepel , disgust , dislike (the darker and the brighter the red colors get, it indicates that thedeeper and more intensive the emotions get in the figure) Finally, others can be associatedlow with the emotion of hate such as devaluation , diminishing, or avoidance as pictured withlightly shaded colors in Fig 1.1

Fig 1.1 The emotion of hate

Thus, it is clear that hate is not a unidimensional concept and that it has many layers Itwould be naive to discuss hate only based on anger and violent behaviors Some people

internalize their hate , but others openly express it and thus commit violent and criminal acts.The complexity and multifaceted nature of hate is well-discussed by Andrew Sullivan , 20 ajournalist, who focused on the horrific effects of hate crimes as follows:

There is hate that fears , and hate that merely feels contempt ; there is hate that

expresses power , and hate that comes from powerless; there is revenge , and there ishate that comes from envy There is hate that was love , and hate that is a curious

expression of love There is hate of the other, and hate of something that reminds us

too much ourselves There is the oppressor’s hate , and the victim’s hate There is hatethat burns slowly, and hate that fades And, there is hate that explodes, and hate that

never catches fire

Sullivan’s definition is one of the most comprehensive definitions, and it indicates thecomplexity of the concept of hate Thus, it is fair to say that hate can be discussed from manydifferent perspectives For example, some scholars define hate as mixture of emotions such

as combination of fear and anger 21 or disgust and anger 22 But, the most comprehensive

Fig 1.2)

Fig 1.2 Dimensions of hate

Sternberg conceptualizes cold hate as “devaluation and diminution ” while cool hate is

“negation of intimacy and disgust ” or simply seeking distance from a hated side; and finally,hot hate is “anger and fear ” Figure 1.2 illustrates the relationships between basic hate

components and how these dimensions of hate eventually generate the feeling of generalhatred by either functioning individually or through interacting with other hate components.Thus, it is necessary to investigate such emotions separately to understand the layers of

emotion of hate , as follows:

Cold Hate (Devaluation–Diminution)

This kind of hate is generally characterized as seeing the targeted side as worthless beings.Although some authors think that devaluation is not the same as hate , it is agreed that

devaluation is an early and initial stage that sets the stage for true hate 23 In other words,small differences can be enough to trigger hateful feelings if they are perceived as negative.Human beings always have the tendency to differentiate themselves from others by devaluingthe targeted group 24 Freud (1957) indicates that people tend to find meanings in

exaggerated differences between themselves and those for whom they do not feel affection.Freud calls this “narcissism of minor differences” (p 199; see also Gabbard 1993) So, hate

targeted group 25 Sternberg (2003, pp 311–312) uses an example to define such phenomena:

“It is not uncommon to find anti-Semitism or anti-Islamic cognitions among people who havenever actually met a Jew or a Muslim” Yet, it is possible that an anti-Semitic or anti-Islamicperson can change his/her view if an opportunity arises to meet the hated group Becausethis kind of hate reveals itself in situations where people share similar views, it is called “coldhate ” It seems that this is a more secret and hidden hate inside people, which has not yetformed and found its life but which is still there Perhaps people cannot even name such

feelings as hate , yet they feel some negativity toward targeted group

Cool Hate (Negation of Intimacy–Disgust)

This kind of hate represents disgust and feelings of repugnance against the targeted group.The hater tries to avoid this group and distances himself from the hated side with very clearand strict lines because they see the other side as subhuman and evil Indoctrination withfeelings that the hated side is evil, murderous, and demonic is the main satisfaction of thehater Sternberg (2003, p 311) defines this feeling of cool hate as “visceral prejudice ” towardhated side Such hater s do not necessarily feel a desire for revenge , which marks the majordifference between anger and disgust or hot hate and cool hate Cool hate has very direct,clear, and dichotomous thinking, while cold hate does not have such strict and clear

differentiation In this sense, hateful feelings are more intense in cool hate than cold hate Through this strongly dichotomous differentiation, the hater claims a right to fight againstthe devil and the corruption believed to be manifested by the other side Demonization

provides an incentive to act and/or brings the hater closer to acting against the hated side 26

In cool hate , personal or external factors push the individual to turn up the heat of their hateand make them ready to act against the hated side accordingly

no difference 30 Either way, it is clear that hate involves anger and can be seen as an

indication of strong, intense, and deeper hateful feelings Thus, anger or hot hate represents ahigh-level form of hate

Severity of Hate

Sternberg (2003, 2005) provided important clues about how these three types of hate

additional hate constructs as follows: simmering hate (cold and cool hate together), seethinghate (cold and hot hate together), boiling hate (cool and hot hate together), and finally

burning hate (cold, cool, and hot hate together) Thus, Sternberg’s conceptualization alsoprovides a new classification approach for hate dimensions based on the severity of hate Forexample, if there is only a single component (only cold, cool, or hot hate dimensions existingindividually and separately) available in the hate construct, that represents “mild” hate ; iftwo components are present, that can be labeled as “moderate” hate ; and finally, if all threehate constructs are present, that indicates the highest form of hate —“severe” hate

a “faint-hearted hater ” Such haters are generally ashamed when they realize that they hatesomebody This kind of self-awareness perhaps does not fit the individual’s personality , yetthey cannot feel otherwise At the opposite end of this continuum, there are what Frankfurt(1971) calls “wholehearted haters ”, who are dedicated to their hatred of targeted groups,objects, or persons This type of people in fact feels completed and fulfilled when they aredefined by their hate 31 Similarly, Gaylin (2003) defines these kinds of haters as “true or rawhaters ” In fact, he claims that such haters live with hate daily and that for them it is a way ofbeing These people are generally obsessed with their enemies and are attached to their hateand the hated side through paranoia

Fig 1.3 Severity of hate

Overall, it is clear that hate is a multifaceted and complex subject It is intriguing that there

is not enough study focused on such a biased, easily manipulated, and misunderstood

concept Our ignorance and denial of such emotions are perhaps due to our desire to build a

be able to advance in our minds and in our lives This issue in turn has gained too much

attention in both consumer psychology and consumer behavior as consumers started to showhateful emotions as a result of the digital revolution Thus, the next section will focus on

Opotow, S (2005) Hate, conflict, and moral exclusion In R J Sternberg (Ed.), The psychology of hate (pp 121–153).

Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

[ Crossref ]

consumer negativity Part of the reason is that the Internet makes so easy to publicly

complain, and such consumer criticism, negativity, and complaints can easily reach millions

of consumers simultaneously As consumers can “anonymously” communicate with markets,that makes them to show their true feelings without revealing their true identities In physicalface-to-face shopping environments, majority of consumers prefer to pressure or hide theirtrue emotions but let them lose to their close friends and family such feelings once they leavephysical shopping environments Thus, it was almost impossible to detect the consumer’strue emotions during and even in post-purchase stages as they intended to share their

experiences with only the people who are close to them As a result of such anonymous and

as there is no real face to talk to It is like writing your diary without hiding your true

emotions, without worrying about who to hurt Open your heart and soul truly as it is Thus,consumers reveal even their most hideous and hateful feelings that have been pressured for along time Such negative speech we witness in consumption spaces is reaching unpresentedlevels, and the brand hate concept is sitting right at the heart of this change

Hate in psychology literature is generally discussed in terms of interpersonal

relationships However, people can also feel hate toward objects that represent systems ofmeaning to which they are opposed Thus, hatred for a person or “interpersonal hate ” andhatred for an object or “object hate ” can be different Research has found that about a third ofstudent respondents associate their hate with “something” rather than “someone” (e.g., I hateMcDonald’s) 1 This kind of hate , or “object hate ”, is not studied and discussed in either

consumer psychology and behavior theories or in general psychology It is not clear whetherpeople ascribe more valence to actions against persons or objects they hate However,

research shows that people interact with brands like their friends, enemies, and

acquaintances, and they share with them their feelings and emotions in different forms—attributing human characteristics to the brands 2 On the other hand, there is no research intowhether people’s interpersonal hate can get more severe than object hate or vice versa Also,every consumer attaches different emotions to different brands, and different emotions can

be triggered when we see different brands You feel happiness when you see one specific

brand, while you feel hate and anger when you see another brand Brand hate , in this context,

is not studied as widely as brand love in both consumer behavior and psychology literatures

In other words, brand hate is a relatively new concept and needs to be discussed in depth inthe next section in light of the previous examination of the psychology of hate

Definition of Brand Hate

When brand hate is pronounced in any conversation or discussion, the first thing people think

is that brand hate should be a polarized version of brand love In short, it is thought that it istotal opposite of brand love This is not true all the time, as brand hate does not necessarilyindicate lack of brand love but can just mean indifference 3 Thus, people who do not feel lovetoward a brand do not necessarily feel hatred toward it but just feel neutral or show a lack ofinterest or simply are indifferent This feeling of numbness is not actually an indication ofsomething bad and traumatic There are layers of different negative emotions that are seededinto brand hate feeling In other words, there is more into brand hate than just not feeling lovetoward a brand Yet, brand love as a concept is a good starting point to really understand whatbrand hate can be

There are many examples in branding and consumer psychology literature of consumersdeveloping strong positive emotions toward brands, such as feeling loyalty to or love for abrand Clearly, consumers can also develop negatively intense emotions against brands Ingeneral, when people feel positive about a person and an object, they develop “approach”behavior, and they try to get close, but they develop “avoidance ” behavior when they feelnegative about a person or object 4 From the branding point of view, consumers develop

experiences received less attention from both academics and practitioners until we started towitness consumer hostility toward hated brands in many online consumer networking sites,

in reviews, and on complaint boards Today, it is almost impossible to read online consumerreviews without running into hateful language about companies, employees, and their brands.Consumers are now able easily to reveal their true emotions since most of interactions can beanonymous in digitally mediated communication platforms As a result, passive and hiddennegative emotions can now be actively observed in the digital world because of the open andanonymous nature of Internet communication Thus, research recently has started to focus onthe dark side of the consumer–brand relationship, and new negative consumer–brand

relationship concepts are developed, such as brand dislike , 6 brand avoidance, 7 negativebrand emotions, 8 brand divorce , 9 and anti-branding 10 Such negative consumer–brand

relationships can influence consumers deeply and memorably—in ways that can harm a

company’s brand equity more than actually expected as such negativity spread in the digitalworld with a heartbeat In fact, some authors believe that managing negative brand

experiences is more important than building positive brand connections, especially in brandequity building processes 11 Similarly, in my research, I also found that there is a link betweenconsumer-generated anti-branding activities targeting well-known brands and brand value This, in turn, suggests that negative brand associations might be playing a more active rolethan positive ones, and thus the development of a valid and structured conception of brandhate is a necessity

Most of the brand hate feelings track back to consumers perception of unfairness and

injustice as discussed in the previous chapter The difference between consumer’s perception

of what is fair and what is not with their interactions with the brand and company revealswhere the brand hate is seeded Consumers naturally expect to receive fair outcome whenthey are interacting with brands Any behavior creates poor outcome and/or low-quality

Perceived justice and fairness can only be reached if a consumer receives an outcome that

is equal or greater than what is expected from a brand, or alternatively if consumer gets thereturn of what is invested into brand for the exchange value If a consumer continues to

receive the expected or greater than expectations outcomes, that creates brand satisfaction,loyalty, and love However, if the brand continuously fails to deliver the promised outcomes

as an exchange value, this eventually creates consumer disgust , anger , and brand hate as alsopictured in Fig 2.1

Fig 2.1 Brand justice/injustice and hate

Thus, consumers’ perception of the ratio of brand offerings to consumer expectations sits

at the heart of consumer brand hate concept Every brand is a commercial entity and hassomething to offer Brand offerings can either be physical such as product itself or

psychological and/or emotional such as identity , feeling of belonging to a group, as support

to a social cause Every brand has also liability to carry and deliver such brand assets to

satisfy its consumers’ needs Positive consumer–brand relationship can only be established ifthe brand delivers the promised offerings to consumers or goes beyond the expectations.This, in turn, leads to brand love if the brand constantly accomplishes to provide promisedofferings to consumer If such promised offerings can fall short, consumers eventually feelaversion and try to distance themselves from the brand This is where a brand hate can

initially be formed as also discussed in Attachment-Aversion 15 models in consumer

psychology literature Consumers’ feelings of justice and fairness can be shattered when

brand offerings can’t be met or exceed the perceived liabilities In other word, consumers’perceived distributive, procedural, and interactional justice feelings determine either brand

is going to be loved or hated In the brand love –hate continuum, brand justice, which coversall the aforementioned justice elements discussed, sits in the middle of brand love and hate aspictured in Fig 2.1 Every brand and consumer want to be just each other in a simple

consumer–brand relationship In this context, brand injustice is the turning point from wherebrand hate starts and continues to grow with increasing volumes if brand can’t manage tobalance the offerings-expectations equity by recovering injustice elements Each injusticeelement (distributive, procedural, and interactional justice) works differently in creatingbrand hate Depending on product, service, or situation, consumers might tolerate a specificinjustice element with various capacities over others The research found that consumersmight tolerate distributive injustice when there is a strong relationship between

company/brand and the consumer 16 This is true in many cases For example, I don’t mindgetting a bad coffee once in a while from my favorite café place as baristas were always reallynice to me, and we develop good friendship over the years Nevertheless, the opposite couldalso be true Seinfeld fans could easily remember the famous “Soup Nazi” episode in whichthe Soup Nazi (the soup maker and the business owner) who cooks very delicious soup thatalmost everybody can’t help themselves but go taste those addictively delicious soups

Everybody behaves themselves and quietly wait on the line and show utmost respect to SoupNazi so that they don’t get eliminated from the line and future services provided by this

amazing cook But, Soup Nazi is a very angry man, and he can treat his consumers very badlyand refuse to serve them soup, which is hard to handle for most of the consumers I still canhear him saying “no soup for you, one moth” when Jerry slap his counter by getting ahead ofthe line and asked a soup Clearly, this is a comedy, but there is some reality behind it, and

different ways and kindle hateful feelings in different forms However, in each individual

justice element is not satisfied, the brand gets closer to be hated more and more If more thanone injustice elements can’t be satisfied (say both distributive and procedural injustice), or all

of the injustice elements can’t be served, then consumers might finally feel real hate towardthe brand

Overall, it can be said that brand hate indicates consumers’ negativity toward a brand, itsassociations, and its identity as a result of consumer’s perceived brand injustice with the

relationship with the brand Any consumer-brand interaction which gives consumers bad andpainful experiences in both physical and emotional levels potentially lead to the way to thebrand hate In a broader sense, brand hate can be defined as consumer detachment and

aversion from a brand and its value systems as a result of constantly happening brand

injustices that leads to intense and deeply held negative consumer emotions Such negativeemotions can vary from simple devaluation and diminution to disgust and contempt to angersimilarly discussed in Stenberg’s hate conceptualization In other words, brand hate is morethan just one emotion and covers various layers of different negative emotions These

emotions play different roles in forming brand hate , and such emotions will be discussed indetail, and the following section is dedicated to that

Components of Brand Hate

Because hate is theoretically a very complex and multilayered concept, we need a broaderbrand hate construct This is possible by translating Stenberg’s hate conceptualization in theprevious chapter into the consumer–brand relationship context Sternberg’s

conceptualization offers a broader understanding of the concept and goes beyond just

revealing anger and death wishes toward the hated sides or objects Therefore, I will use it as

a springboard for a brand hate conceptualization and will define brand hate in three majorconstructs as follows: cold brand hate , cool brand hate , and finally hot brand hate Thesebrand hate constructs will be discussed with the equivalent and related theories in consumerpsychology literature

represents This separation and effort of dissociation from the hated brand is a less costlyapproach to avoiding the potential harms from the hated side as perceived danger is minimal

17 and perhaps gives more meaningful resolution to the consumers Such diminution and

devaluation processes are widely discussed in the context of the consumer self and brandidentity relationship in consumer behavior and psychology literatures

between consumers’ positive and negative selves 21 If negative selves play a predominantrole in consumers’ personal lives, an adverse attitude, a cold or silent hate , and most likely astrong avoidance of the disliked brand can be witnessed One could pretend that a consumer’spositive self could manipulate itself in brand love while negative selves work on brand hate

22 In this kind of brand hate , inculcation of the brand as criminal or socially irresponsiblecould also be the purpose of the brand haters Cold brand hate , in this context, can be seen asthe representation of consumer negative selves which eventually manifest as hate toward thebrand that does not fit with the consumer’s individual and social identification needs 23

Although it is not a deep, core or extreme feeling, such dissociation and/or avoidance efforts

by the person defining himself/herself as different to the disliked brands, can be seen as earlyindicator of a slowly evolving brand hate

Cool Brand Hate

Cool brand hate refers to consumer negative emotions such as repulsion, resentment , revolt ,and finally disgust toward a disliked brand The feelings discussed in cool brand hate are

stronger than just trying to distance a person’s stand on an issue, but entail rather a totaldislike , unhappiness, and a strong dissatisfaction created by the brand These feelings doeventually lead to distinct distancing efforts by drawing clear lines between the brand and itsassociations and the consumer Distancing is the early stages of the feeling of disgust In fact,

a person who feels disgust may create a vociferous stand against the hurtful and hated side.Thus, the distancing discussed here is a kind of escape and different to what is defined in thecold brand hate section It indicates something more like an “escape” from the disgustingperson/group/object by voicing displeasure loudly People perceive threats at a higher leveland feel themselves to be challenged with the high costs of avoiding the harm implied bydisgust 24 Thus, emotions are stronger, and behaviors are sharper in cool brand hate , asdisgust includes a more expressive outcry and escape , rather than just a silent distancingfrom the hated brand 25

Although in consumer psychology literature disgust is usually studied in terms of a

company’s selfish effort to put company and brand benefit over consumer benefits Cool

brand haters are so disgusted by the company and brand that they exit the market 27 by

boycotting the brand 28 and thus liberate themselves from meaningless consumption circles,

as discussed in “consumer liberation and escape ” 29 concepts Some research indicates thatnot providing an exit option from brand consumption cycles, which is the case in many

oligopolistic and monopoly markets (aka “held hostage” due to high switching costs 30 )

might trigger a brand disgust especially this accompanied with distributive injustice Somealso may change their consumption patterns as a result of brand disgust by creating their ownsolutions, conceptualized as “sovereign consumers ” 31 In cool brand hate level, consumersmight feel threats at a higher level than cold brand hate and accept high costs for avoiding theharm in disgust 32 The emotions are stronger as disgust includes a more expressive outcryand “get away” feeling than silent distancing and self-devaluation

Hot Brand Hate

Feelings of extreme anger and anxiety toward a brand are represented in hot brand hate Thus, revealing extreme anger and aggressive responses targeting hated brands is its focus

In general, angry people have higher willingness to take greater levels of risks to lower thepotential harm expected from the hated side, and therefore they can easily get violent andattack it 33 Angry consumers are relatively new to the consumer research area, but there isincreasing interest in studying angry consumers’ behaviors When some consumers feel

helplessness and frustration , this, in turn, might lead to very extreme and in fact explosivereactions toward the hated brand This can be seen particularly after a major service failure ,

34 or sometimes socially irresponsible corporate actions raise consumers’ willingness to

punish such brands 35 Consumers can reflect their anger onto frontline service providers, andthey may try directly to harm company property and deliberately attack employees, violatingthe company’s policies 36 Feelings of being cheated by the company, or feeling being takenadvantage of or stuck with an unwanted contract or something unexplained could eventuallypush the consumer to the edge The things done by the company are so absurd that you

simply shoot through the roof, lose control, and get violent Consumers’ dissatisfaction withservices or a company’s stand on a social issue could also be associated with a greater

likelihood of active anti-branding activity and extreme brand hate in such cases Although abetrayed and helpless feeling increases angry consumers’ desire for revenge and willingness

1

Attitudinal Brand Hate (combination of cold and cool brand hate ): This kind of brand hateindicates only a negative emotional attachment Consumers might share these feelingswith their close friends and family or sometimes keep their emotions private They canpassively differentiate their stand against the hated brand by distancing themselves andinforming fellow consumers about it

2

Behavioral Brand Hate (hot brand hate ): Expressing negative emotions, antipathy , andhate loudly toward a brand in public Such behavioral indications can be formed by

owning a brand hate site, involvement in hate group discussions, posting complaints onthird-party complaint sites about the brand, or simply being an anti-brand activist

Alternatively, such individual and independent hate constructs (cold, cool, and hot brandhate ) can also be defined as “mild brand hate ” elements, similar to Sternberg’s classification

It would be sensible to indicate that these individual hate components are quite difficult todetect separately, and they appear as some combination of both cool and cold or cold and hothate structures in many situations In this context, Sternberg’s (2003, 2005) dual hate modelcan, once again, provide an informative structure for how to classify various types of brandhate construct Similarly, we can define a cold and cool brand hate combination as

“simmering brand hate ”, while a cold and hot brand hate combination is “seething brand hate

”; and a cool and hot hate is “boiling brand hate ” A combination of all of these hate factorscan be defined as “burning brand hate ” (cold, cool, and hot brand hate components together).Similarly , simmering, seething, and boiling brand hate indicates “moderate level brand hate ”,while burning brand hate indicates the most “severe and ultimate level of brand hate ” as itcovers all the other hate constructs Furthermore, starting from hot brand hate to burningbrand hate , it is easy to observe some forms of behavioral brand hate reactions also pictured

in Fig 2.2

Fig 2.2 Brand hate hierarchy

Clearly, the most dangerous and harmful form of brand hate is “burning brand hate ” Most

of the attitudinal brand hate construct can sometimes be difficult for a company to detect;behavioral brand hate measures are not only stronger indicators of losing consumers but also

a sign that attacking behaviors, in the form of anti-brand activity, is about to happen Eachbrand hate construct has the potential to fire up some level of anti-branding activity targeted

Most anti-branding efforts in the digital world start with using domain names similar tocorporate counterparts Many such anti-brand domain names are easy to remember (such asnorthworstair.org for Northwest Airlines, shameway.com for Safeway’s, starbucked.com forStarbucks, killercoke.org for Coca-Cola, and so forth) Anti-brand sites purposefully use thetargeted corporation’s brand name in their domain name to increase their visibility and thefindability of their version of brand meanings in digital markets Such haters also purposelyembed insulting and negative words in their domain names so as to express their anger and

prevent the creation of such anti-corporation and anti-brand Web sites, some companieshave purchased the addresses of potential negative brand Web sites—for example, Volvo’svolvosucks.com, Chase Manhattan’s chasesucks.com, ihatechase.com, and Exxon’s

exxonsucks.com 41 Famously, priceline.com purchased pricelinesucks.com even before

priceline.com went online 42 In some industries, many of the leading brands seem to haveanti-brand sites With these domain names , anti-brand sites also benefit by sharing the linkpopularity, brand awareness, and Web traffic of the targeted brands’ site in many search

engine results and in consumer surfing decisions on the Internet Anti-brand sites sometimesshow up in the top ten search results when a corporate brand is searched on major searchengines Other sites also take advantage of mistyping (aka “typosquatting”) to steal trafficdirected to the targeted brand, as in the case of untied.com, a hate site targeting United

Airlines (united.com) For these consumer haters , anti-brand sites have turned out to bemajor message dissemination venues and a powerful communication tool Such anti-

branding hate sites subvert many brand slogans , associations, and meanings by introducingnew semiotic meanings on their Web sites (aka “subvertisement”) Consumer -generatedanti-branding images are also conceptualized as “doppelganger brand images” in theoreticaldiscourse 43 Anti-branders try to undermine the perceived authenticity of the original

corporate brand meanings and slogans and eventually expose the firms to cultural backlash inconsumption spaces Although doppelganger brand images incite critics of corporate brandmeanings, they do not necessarily manifest very extreme negativity and/or reflect deeplyheld consumer hate toward disliked brands Thus, doppelganger brand images can be seen assubsections of general anti-branding activities and expressions of brand hate

Furthermore, such consumer anti-branding hate sites not only subvert brand meaningsbut also exchange information, organize boycotts , and coordinate lawsuits to revolutionizeconsumer movements against targeted brands The goal is to influence bigger crowds andinitiate anti-corporate movements on the Internet Thus, many anti-brand sites have

functions beyond being ordinary complaint sites (such as e-complaints) and cover a widerange of issues—not only dissatisfaction caused by a simple transaction or service failure Many of these sites appear in the form of consumer revenge sites discussing inconsistentservices and greedy business philosophies, disgruntled current and ex-employee sites

(walmart-blows.com), and political basis Web sites (homedepotsucks.com and

McSpotlight.com—highlight their respective target companies’ harming of the environment

by destroying rainforests, their use of harmful packaging, corruption of culture, monopolistic,and anti-labor market practices) However, the legality of these anti-branding hate sides is avery controversial issue and will be discussed broadly in Chapter 6 But it is clear that all ofthe above forms of anti-brand hate sites directly and indirectly impact consumers’

perceptions of the targeted brand’s identity and image, affecting consumer purchase

decisions and eventually even potentially damaging the companies’ market share 44

branding actions focused on the hated brand as also discussed in Fig 2.3

Therefore, there is a strong and linear relationship between consumers’ brand hate and anti-Fig 2.3 Brand hate and anti-branding

Not all haters feel brand hate at the same level As discussed above, the lowest level ofbrand hate in the brand hate hierarchy comprises cold brand hate , while the highest level ofbrand hate is burning brand hate Thus, it is reasonable to expect the lowest level of anti-branding activities in cold brand hate while the highest level of anti-branding activities willappear in burning brand, as also pictured in Fig 2.3 In psychology literature, individuals whofeel low-level hate are defined as “faint-hearted haters ” while higher-level haters can be

described as “wholehearted haters ” 45 As discussed in Chapter 1, Faint-hearted haters cansometimes be ashamed that they in fact hate somebody, but this might not be the case in thebranding world since the brand as an object has less interactive power to influence

consumers and is soulless material when compared to human beings Thus, this shame is less

of a possibility Such sorts of haters are also defined as “mild” level haters in Sternberg’s

classification and thus can be defined as “mild level brand haters” in the brand hate context.Some of these kinds of haters hate brands because they want to show loyalty to their friends

or in-groups and perhaps hate these brands on a fashionable basis, as discussed similarlywithin the “symbolic haters ” concept 46 In other words, they do not even know why they hate

it, but hating a given brand is a commitment to friends and reference groups

On the other hand, other haters display a higher-level hate Frankfurt (1971) calls thesetypes of individuals “wholehearted haters ”, who are dedicated to hate the targeted group,object, or person This type of person in fact feels pride in their hate and defines themselveswith it Similarly, Gaylin (2003) defines these kinds of haters as “true or raw haters ” Theirhate is so deep and strong that such individuals feel targeted hate in every aspect of theirdaily life They are simply obsessed with their enemies and build everything around the hatethey have made their own Thus, it is fair to define such obsessed and paranoid haters as “die-hard haters ” or “true-haters” True haters can be placed in Sternberg’s classification betweenthe medium and severe hate level If true haters ’ requests are not heard and problems are notresolved by the company, their hate can exponentially increase to the highest levels and lead

informing their close circles about what is wrong, the consumer actually starts disseminatingthe ugly truth behind the hated brands to the markets With the advancement of Internet

technology, now consumers can easily broadcast their messages and organize themselveswith other like-minded consumers to start using anti-brand Web sites as weapons of

empowerment to battle corporate wrongdoing Although dissemination of negative

messages starts at the private or close circles level, it can easily reach the whole market in ashort time, especially on the Internet These kinds of anti-branding activity are generally

expected from faint-hearted haters , as also presented in the “audience domain” column inFig 2.3 However, some consumers might not be satisfied with these initial anti-brandingefforts and wish to go beyond They go directly to the company with their complaint , askingfor explanations and compensation for their inconvenience due to companies’ failing

products/services and policies If consumers do not get a satisfactory response, they changetheir consumption habits by protesting about the company Some consumers actively useexpressive protests , boycotting , or complaint behaviors in consumption markets Othersmight send online petition links to like-minded consumers and get involved in boycott

movements Others build anti-branding Web sites with catchy domain names to exchangeinformation, organize boycotts, and coordinate lawsuits, which thus function beyond the role

of ordinary complaint and review sites Many of these sites also appear in the form of

branding efforts can only be expected from true haters who put this fight at the center of theirlives

consumer revenge sites (aolsucks.com and starbucked.com) These kinds of dedicated anti-Finally, some anti-branding activities solely focus on destroying the hated brand and thusdevelop attacking strategies Such hate site followers use very extreme language and graphicsemiotics against the targeted brand 48 These attacks are aimed at the brand’s identity andeverything it represents, deploying unforgettable and disturbing figures and symbols such asswastikas , skulls , and the like The complaint and communication domain is on the wholepublic, and such anti-branding activities focus on scandalous claims and very extreme graphicsymbols of negative brand images Some of these anti-branding activities feature legal

attacks with case numbers and other public information These sorts of direct attacking

behavior are typical of anarchist consumers , as discussed above

All of the anti-branding activities discussed directly and indirectly impact other

consumers’ perceptions of the targeted brand’s identity , image, and consumer purchase

higher the brand value the more anti-branding and hate attacks there are targeted at the

brand, which is conceptualized as “negative double jeopardy (NDJ)” It was discovered thatNDJ has two main components: “brand rank ” indicates the brand’s placement or rank amongother valuable and well-known brands; and “brand consistency ” indicates how long the brandhas been ranked in the list (e.g., annually published Business Week’s “Top 100 Most ValuableGlobal Brands List”) These two dimensions can be used to show how much hate the selectbrands are generating in markets After a close investigation and sets of qualitative analysis,

it was possible to develop an NDJ matrix, as it is shown in Table 2.1

Table 2.1 Typology of anti-brand sites with regard to the NDJ matrixa

Brand rank

High Low

Brand consistency High Experts Symbolic haters

Low Complainers Opportunists

aKucuk (2008)

We can classify consumer-generated branding efforts into four groups: Experts who target the brands that are consistently ranked well-known brands (ranked at the top); Symbolic

Haters who target brands that are consistently ranked at the bottom of the list; Complainers

who generally target brands inconsistently ranked at the top of the list; and finally,

Opportunists who tend to target brands ranked inconsistently at the bottom of the list.

Experts generally have better understanding of markets than many ordinary consumers andare capable of sensing and reading market changes very well (some of them may also haveworked in the industry for a while) On the other hand, symbolic haters rely on word-of-

mouth and rumors; thus, they focus on the myths behind the targeted brands (e.g.,

“everybody talks negatively about/hates this brand, so I guess I should hate them too”)

Complainers focus more on operational problems, such as service failures , rather than themain philosophical problems behind the brands Opportunists are generally on the hunt forscandalous news; thus, they are fed by media rather than personal expertise or experience,and they maximize their visibility via search engines and by social networking with otherconsumers Thus, opportunists are happy as long as they are noticed and generate some

traffic to their Web sites

Interestingly, when I revisited anti-branding activities for the same brands in a

longitudinal study after four years, 49 I found the same NDJ effects and discovered that

consumer-generated anti-branding activities had gained significant power and visibility overthat period The results also show that there is a significant and increasing relationship

between such consumer-generated anti-branding activities, brand hate , and brand value Survival rates of these consumer-generated anti-branding sites revealed that most of thecomplainers ’ and opportunists ’ anti-brand Web sites had gone, but the majority of experts ’and symbolic haters ’ ones were still around after the four years Furthermore, the study

branding efforts and sites In other words, they had gained more power over the intervening

Thus, we can term this new phenomenon as having “horizontal NDJ ” effects That is,

brands consistently listed as valuable generate more hate than ones listed in the top of thevalue scale In my research, I realized that experts have deep and strong hatred toward thebrand they target They are actually talented haters Some of the experts are in fact workedfor the company for a while, and they know what is going on inside it; thus, their hatred is real

Brand Hate and Brand Bullying

Consumers can hit brands with rude and unjustified messages without a notice in the digitalworlds Although some consumers might rightfully get angry and exercise their first

amendment right of free speech to inform other fellow consumers, the free-speech rightsdon’t protect markets from bullying and fake information either Bullying, especially

cyberbullying, is today’s epidemic especially among teens Although a bully might think thathe/she is joking with his/her friends, some of these behaviors can be carried on to adulthood,with a dramatic impact on one’s personality and life perspective This, in turn, can generatehatred toward the person who bullies and the object, which could be a brand, used in the

bullying process During my anonymous interviews with consumers, one of them explainedwhy she hated a specific brand, as it brings up negative feelings and memories:

I hate fubu because in middle school, one of my bullies always wore fubu She would

make fun of me on a daily basis because I couldn’t afford to buy the types of clothes shecould buy So, from then on, I hated everything FUBU

Bullying is a sign of having power over someone else and a strong indicator of power

imbalance between the bully and the bullied 50 Such power imbalance as a concept is widelydiscussed in hate psychology Some bullies can be really rootless and manipulative so thatbullied people can define bullies as a “devil ” or “monster”, which is similar to how many anti-branders and brand haters define the company and brand they hate 51 Bullying involves

regular and repeated humiliation , belittling , and intimidating the bullied , 52 which eventuallycreates deeply held and strong hatred toward the bullies In fact, bullies enjoy bullying and donot care about the damage they cause to the bullied person’s emotions and life Furthermore,bullying always happens in front of some sort of audience, and thus the insult and harassmentcreated by bullies can generate very extreme hate , deeper than the regular direct consumerbrand hate discussed here so far

The aggression and harassment carried out by the powerful side or bully is so strong andunbearable that the hateful feelings created by them can also be reflected in everything bullies

include social players and does not require an audience But bullies’ favorite brands can

eventually be seen as representations of the bullies themselves and that, in turn, could beenough to make the bullied hate that brand, considering the severity of insult and harassmenthe/she experienced This indirectly created brand hate through the bully’s loved brand isillustrated in Fig 2.4b

Fig 2.4 Brand hate through brand bullying a Direct consumer brand hate b Indirect consumer brand hate through bullying

In some cases, the person who is bullied through a brand might not have any idea aboutthe brand used in bullying process Thus, the consumer hates that brand even though he/shehas never used it or had any previous thoughts about it This is caused just through the play ofbrand identities in order to hurt somebody emotionally In many cases, the bullying can be sosevere that the bullied person might need clinical help in their life to get over such an illogicalhate connection Sometimes a brand can be at the very heart of this hateful bullying process

Such brand bullying can reach extreme levels especially in teenagers and adolescencesworld Dr Samil Aledin, my colleague, studied extensively brand bullying’s negative impacts

on teenagers In his work, 53 one of the research participants defined the brand bullying as the

teenagers go serious decision process of what to wear or not to wear in order to avoid

becoming a target of bullying in their social environments We communicate with each otherthrough brands in our social environments These teenagers are also doing the exact samething, defining who they are and who they are not by screening others to find their place inlife This is the very subject sits at the hearth of hate studies in psychology, classifying

individuals “us vs them” If they are not from one of us, then they deserved to be bullied This,

in turn, fires hateful relationship between both sides

Dr Aledin indicates that teenagers go through an interrogation process by the potentialbully why they didn’t wear the brands accepted by their social group Dr Aledin

conceptualizes this phenomenon as “brand interrogation ”, a confrontation process in which

a teenager explains why he/she doesn’t have a certain branded product that is not

appreciated by the peers If a person can’t pass the brand interrogation process, then he/she

is subject to severe bullying and exclusion from the group as a form of brand hate Many teensare harshly bullied because of their choice of branded outfit they wear That’s indeed the

reflection of bully ’s brand hate to another teenage who pays the price as social intimationand aggression This selection process can be very painful especially when majority is on thebully’s side In teenagers’ world, these kinds of inclusion v exclusion decision from a groupcan be made daily basis depends on what kind of brand a person can wear And hence suchvictimization process can generate a deeper hate toward the brand in the middle of this

dispute

Dr Aledin underlines the root-causes of this kind of brand bullying as materialism In thiscontext, he indicates that materialism and branding are enabling teenager groups to gainmore power and control of their peers with the acts of interrogation , derogation as well ascreating criteria for being included, excluded, or ignored This, in turn, is the fundamentalreason behind the hate or brand hate teenagers feel each other in their social environments.The sad side is, such bullied teenagers will probably carry such emotional scars of social

exclusion and bullying experience rest of their life as they will likely feel the same traumaticexperiences whenever they see the brand in their social surroundings Thus, brand hate can

Bies and Shapiro (1987) and Goodwin and Ross (1992) 15