Guilt by association: Heuristic risks for foreign brands during a product-harm crisis in China

Critical for international marketers in volatile markets is understanding of factors that influence consumer responses during a product-harm crisis. Applying social psychology concepts of heuristic judgments and attribution theory, the authors study mistrust of non-contaminated but heuristically-associated foreign brands during the 2008 Chinese milk contamination crisis. Shared brand identity and investment or management links between a locally made product brand and a foreign imported brand expose the foreign brand to guilt-by-association (GBA) effects. Judgments regarding stability of the underlying cause of the domestic crisis moderate the transference of blame to foreign brands.