Brand-criticism affects self-image - Study

A paper published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology studied "The effects of self-brand connections on responses to brand failure: A new look at the consumer–brand relationship." They concluded that for those who identify with a brand very strongly, if the brand is attacked, they consider it as a self-esteem-lowering personal attack.

I like boing boing's take on the study:

I think the most ferocious love is always unrequited love. The companies we love don't love us back. That probably explains the tedious "zealot" snipes I get every time I breathe even the mildest criticism of Apple -- when criticism of your favorite corporation lowers your self-esteem, it's only natural to respond with aggressive ad-hominem.

This is also true of the people "brands" created by American Idol and all these Reality TV shows we follow I think. For Season 10 of American Idol for example, I was a bit late in realizing that a lot of the passion for James Durbin was generated by his Asperger's (I mistakenly thought that people loved him as being another "rock god" on Idol). Fans who have been directly affected by Asperger's had a strong bond to him through their own personal experience and defended him vigorously when he was criticized for the way he reacted in interviews, etc. I think they considered it an attack on their own situation.

From Science Direct:

The researchers performed two experiments, one on a group of 30 women and another on 170 undergraduate students, in order to see whether the subjects' self esteem was tied to the general ratings of various brands. Those who had high self-brand connections (SBC)—that is, those who follow, research, or simply like a certain brand—were the ones whose self esteem suffered the most when their brands didn't do well or were criticized. Those with low SBC remained virtually unaffected on a personal level.

The residual effect of this is that those with high SBCs tend to discount negative news about their favorite brands, and sometimes even ignore it altogether in favor of happier thoughts.

"Consumers are highly resistant to brand failure to the point that they’re willing to rewrite history," business administration professor and researcher Tiffany Barnett White said in a statement. "It not only explains why so many Toyota customers ignored the negative brand information in the aftermath of the highly publicized recalls, it also accounts for why they’re quick to defend the company and why they would want to re-write history in a more positive way."