How harmful are online firestorms for brands?An approach to the phenomenon from the participant level

  1. Elena Delgado-Ballester 1
  2. Inés López-López 1
  3. Alicia Bernal-Palazón 1
  1. 1 Departamento de Marketing. Universidad de Murcia
Journal:
Spanish journal of marketing-ESIC

ISSN: 2444-9695 2444-9709

Year of publication: 2020

Volume: 24

Issue: 1

Pages: 133-151

Type: Article

DOI: 10.1108/SJME-07-2019-0044 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: Spanish journal of marketing-ESIC

Abstract

Purpose – Adopting an exploratory approach, this paper aims to focus on the potential negative consequences that online firestorms (OFs) might have on consumer–brand relationships. Specifically, the authors focus on the individual level through taking a close look at the content that users generate during these attacks. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted content analysis to study four recent brandrelated OFs that occurred on Twitter. Findings – The results show that brands are at the core of the users’ conversations, although other actors, such as competing firms, can also be affected. Negative comments greatly exceed positive ones. Actions against the brand, both passive (avoidance) and active (vengeance), emerged during the OFs. Research limitations/implications – The exploratory nature of the study could cast doubt on the generalizability of the results. Moreover, the number of OF analyzed is limited, although they represent an interesting variety of brand misconducts. Practical implications – Nowadays, brands are publicly scrutinized through social networks, as the networks enable users to speak out about brands’ perceived mistakes and wrongdoings. This paper confirms that managers should monitor, understand and try to respond to OFs to minimize their impact. Originality/value – Online firestorms are a recent phenomenon that has gained attention finally, as they can reach hundreds of users in real-time and can involve a huge amount of comments posted online against a brand. These attacks could severely damage the brand, even when there is no strong evidence of the posted content being true. This paper adds to the scarce literature on the topic and analyzes the negative effects for brands

Funding information

Funding acknowledgment: This research was supported by the Fundación Ramón Areces under the XVI national contest for the adjudication of aids to research in Social Sciences.

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