Consumers’ relationships with brands

• Strong, positive relationships are not as frequent as marketers would like.
• The formation of strong bonds brings unanticipated risks for consumers and brands.
• Anthropomorphism activates interpersonal processes in consumer–brand relationships.
• Attachment style effects on brand bonds can vary from those at play in human relations.
• Scholarly critiques invite revision and extension of early brand relationship frameworks.

Contemporary research on consumer–brand bonds has moved beyond founding notions of loyalty and commitment and the marriage metaphor that encompasses them to explore diversity in brand relationships and the rules that govern them. Research shows that strong, positive relationships are less frequent than anticipated and that all brand relationships carry risks — for consumers and for brands. On the brand side of the relationship equation, anthropomorphism has emerged as a key condition for processes governing human interactions to transfer to brands. On the person side, attachment styles affect brand relationships through compensatory, self-signaling, and assimilative mechanisms. Future research informs pointed critiques about brand relationships and the dynamics that govern their development.