Willingness to punish and reward brands associated to a political ideology (BAPI)

This study explores the customer insights behind punishing/rewarding brands associated to a political ideology (BAPI) and extends theories of brand avoidance and political consumerism. Study 1 analyzes attitude toward BAPI through a qualitative study and in study 2 the relationship between identification, disidentification, moral avoidance, religiosity and willingness to punish/reward BAPI with the mediating role of attitude is tested via structural equation modeling. The findings reveal that consumers punish the brands they oppose politically, when there is no self-congruence and believe these brands distract the well-being of the society by polarizing and conservatizing it. Moreover, while religious commitment did not have any effect on attitude and willingness to punish/reward BAPI, the results confirm that consumers who attend religious services are found to have a tendency to punish BAPI. This is the first study intended to empirically test these relationships and understand the underlying reasons behind punishing and rewarding BAPI.