Branding in the sacrificial mode – A study of the consumptive side of brand value production

• I explore branding as a double-edged sword that simultaneously produces and consumes value.
• I employ the anthropological concept of “sacrifice” to theorize the consumptive side of branding.
• I draw on a case of branding in the Swedish Police after the organization had fallen in disgrace because of accusations of racism.
• Organizational identification and organizational reflexivity may be consumed as brand value is produced.

SummaryScholarship on branding has made important contributions in terms of the function of branding and how it produces value for organizations. However, there has been an overemphasis on the production of value, at the expense of an understanding of the value that is consumed in branding processes. This paper explores the consumptive side of branding by drawing on the anthropological concept of “sacrifice,” arguing that branding may take place in a “sacrificial mode,” which facilitates a theorization of branding as a double-edged process of complexity reduction, in which value is simultaneously produced and consumed. The article draws on an empirical study of branding in a Swedish police organization that fell in disgrace, and suggests that organizational identification as well as the potential for an organization to reflect on the effects of its own activity may be consumed in the branding processes.