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Emotional branding is widely heralded as a key to marketing success. However, little attention has been given to the risks posed by this strategy. This article argues that emotional-branding strategies are conducive to the emergence of a doppelgänger brand image, which is defined as a family of disparaging images and meanings about a brand that circulate throughout popular culture. This article's thesis is that a doppelgänger brand image can under-mine the perceived authenticity of an emotional-branding story and, thus, the identity value that the brand provides to consumers. The authors discuss how the tenets of emotional branding paradoxically encourage the formation and propagation of doppelgänger brand imagery. This article develops the counterintuitive proposition that rather than merely being a threat to be managed, a doppelgänger brand image can actually benefit a brand by providing early warning signs that an emotional-branding story is beginning to lose its cultural resonance. This article demonstrates these ideas through an analysis of the doppelgänger brand image that is beginning to haunt a paragon of emotional branding - Starbucks. The authors conclude with a discussion of how marketing managers can proactively use the insights gained by analyzing a doppelgänger brand image.

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Journal of Marketing

V ol. 70 (January 2006), 50–64

© 2006, American Marketing Association

ISSN: 0022-2429 (print), 1547-7185 (electronic)

Craig J. Thompson, Aric Rindfleisch, & Zeynep Arsel

Emotional Branding and the

Strategic Value of the Doppelgänger

Brand Image

Emotional branding is widely heralded as a key to marketing success. However, little attention has been given to

the risks posed by this strategy. This article argues that emotional-branding strategies are conducive to the emer-

gence of a doppelgänger brand image, which is defined as a family of disparaging images and meanings about a

brand that circulate throughout popular culture. This article's thesis is that a doppelgänger brand image can under-

mine the perceived authenticity of an emotional-branding story and, thus, the identity value that the brand provides

to consumers. The authors discuss how the tenets of emotional branding paradoxically encourage the formation

and propagation of doppelgänger brand imagery. This article develops the counterintuitive proposition that rather

than merely being a threat to be managed, a doppelgänger brand image can actually benefit a brand by providing

early warning signs that an emotional-branding story is beginning to lose its cultural resonance. This article

demonstrates these ideas through an analysis of the doppelgänger brand image that is beginning to haunt a

paragon of emotional branding—Starbucks. The authors conclude with a discussion of how marketing managers

can proactively use the insights gained by analyzing a doppelgänger brand image.

Craig J. Thompson is Churchill Professor of Marketing (e-mail:

cthompson@bus.wisc.edu), Aric Rindfleisch is Associate Professor of

Marketing (and Visiting Professor of Marketing, Tilburg University) (e-mail:

aric@bus.wisc.edu), and Zeynep Arsel is a doctoral candidate in Market-

ing (e-mail zarsel@bus.wisc.edu), School of Business, University of Wis-

consin, Madison. The authors thank seminar participants at the University

of Arizona and the anonymous JM reviewers for their many helpful

comments.

O

ver the past decade, emotional branding has

emerged as a highly influential brand management

paradigm (Gobe 2001; Zaltman 2003). Emotional

branding is a consumer-centric, relational, and story-driven

approach to forging deep and enduring affective bonds

between consumers and brands (Roberts 2004). Proponents

of emotional branding proclaim that this high degree of

consumer passion is seldom, if ever, cultivated through

rational arguments about tangible benefits or even appeals

to symbolic benefits, such as heightened self-esteem or sta-

tus (Gobe 2001). Rather, these potent consumer–brand link-

ages typically emerge when branding strategies use narra-

tives and tactics that demonstrate an empathetic

understanding of customers' inspirations, aspirations, and

life circumstances and that generate warm feelings of com-

munity among brand users (Atkin 2004; Cova and Cova

2002; Fournier 1998; Muniz and Schau 2005).

Among marketing practitioners, this relational, commu-

nal, participatory, sensory, and emotive view of consumer–

brand relationships is increasingly heralded as a central pil-

lar of market differentiation and sustainable competitive

advantage (Atkin 2004; Gobe 2001; Lindstrom 2005;

Roberts 2004). Similarly, consumer researchers investigat-

ing brand personalities, brand communities, and the mean-

ings that anchor strong consumer–brand relationships arrive

at conclusions and recommendations that are consistent

with emotional-branding tenets (Aaker 1997; Aaker,

Fournier, and Brasel 2004; Brown, Kozinets, and Sherry

2003; Fournier 1998; Kozinets 2001; McAlexander,

Schouten, and Koenig 2002; Muniz and O'Guinn 2001).

Even brand management paradigms originally premised on

cognitive theories of consumer knowledge formation now

incorporate many concepts and recommendations that are

characteristic of the emotional-branding paradigm (Keller

2003a, b).

However, a seldom-discussed risk of emotional-

branding strategies is their potential to expose firms to a

particular type of cultural backlash, which we characterize

as the "doppelgänger brand image"—that is, a family of

disparaging images and stories about a brand that are circu-

lated in popular culture by a loosely organized network of

consumers, antibrand activists, bloggers, and opinion lead-

ers in the news and entertainment media. Over time, these

brand-focused parodies and criticisms can coalesce into a

coherent set of opposing meanings that plague brands that

otherwise have attained competitive success through

emotional-branding strategies. In effect, a doppelgänger

brand image culturally competes with the emotionally reso-

nant meanings that a brand's management attempts to instill

through its marketing activities.

From a conventional brand management standpoint, the

central question about these brand parodies and social criti-

cisms is whether they actually hurt a brand and whether a

firm should take action to combat them (Earle 2002).

Indeed, corporations sometimes pursue aggressive legal

measures against people who create or distribute parodies

of their advertisements or logos. Although this adversarial

stance is understandable, we suggest that it is ultimately a

Emotional Branding and the Doppelgänger Brand Image / 51

form of brand management myopia that overlooks strategi-

cally valuable cultural insights that can be gleaned from an

examination of these defamatory representations of the

brand.

In this article, we argue that a doppelgänger brand

image functions as a diagnostic tool that can reveal latent

brand image problems that could eventually blossom into a

full-fledged brand image crisis. More specifically, the

analysis of a doppelgänger brand image can (1) call atten-

tion to cultural contradictions that could potentially under-

mine the perceived authenticity of a firm's emotional-

branding strategy, (2) provide early warning signs that an

emotional-branding story is beginning to lose its value as an

authenticating narrative for consumers' identity projects,

and (3) offer insights into how an emotional-branding strat-

egy can be reconfigured to fit better with changing cultural

times and shifting consumer outlooks. We further argue that

these diagnostic insights are unlikely to be generated by

conventional brand management frameworks.

Our theory-building orientation follows an emerging

tradition of studies that use qualitative data and culturally

based insights to develop new theoretical knowledge of the

symbolic and experiential dimensions of consumer–brand

relationships (e.g., Brown, Kozinets, and Sherry 2003;

Fournier 1998; Holt 2002; McAlexander, Schouten, and

K oenig 2002; Muniz and O'Guinn 2001). In pursuing this

agenda, we begin with a brief review of the tenets of emo-

tional branding. We propose that this widely used marketing

strategy harbors a set of unintended (and largely unrecog-

nized) risks that predispose brands to the formation of dop-

pelgänger brand images. Next, we show how such

unintended consequences emerge in the context of Star-

bucks's emotional-branding strategy and analyze how these

unflattering and disauthenticating meanings motivate con-

sumer brand avoidance. We then discuss general managerial

insights that can be garnered by monitoring and analyzing

doppelgänger brand images and the broader strategic impli-

cations of our research.

The Tenets and Unintended

Consequences of Emotional

Branding

Emotional branding emerged in the late 1990s as a self-

proclaimed corrective to the shortcomings of the conven-

tional benefit-driven approach to branding (see Gobe 2001).

Specifically, emotional-branding gurus challenge the

benefit-driven approach's fundamental claim that brand

managers must establish a clear, consistent, and distinctive

benefit position in the mind of the consumer (see Aaker

1996; Ries and Trout 1981). Rather, proponents of

emotional-branding argue that a benefit-driven positioning

cannot provide an enduring competitive advantage, because

it is readily emulated, particularly when the benefits are tied

to technological and product design features. They further

contend that straightforward benefit appeals are unlikely to

break through the clutter of a saturated marketing environ-

ment that a plethora of brands are fighting to claim distinc-

tive associations. In this vein, emotional-branding propo-

nents insist that the brand meanings that inspire consumer

passion and abiding loyalty are seldom, if ever, attribute-

oriented benefits (e.g., Gobe 2001; Mark and Pearson 2001;

Roberts 2004).

From an emotional-branding standpoint, brand strate-

gists should focus on telling stories that inspire and capti-

vate consumers. These stories must demonstrate a genuine

understanding of consumers' lifestyles, dreams, and goals

and compellingly represent how the brand can enrich their

lives (Roberts 2004). As Gobe (2002, p. xxi) writes, "con-

sumers today not only want to be romanced by the brands

they choose to bring into their lives, they absolutely want to

establish a multifaceted holistic relationship with that

brand, and this means they expect the brand to play a posi-

tive, proactive role in their lives." Thus, the strategic objec-

tive of emotional branding is to forge strong and meaning-

ful affective bonds with consumers and, in so doing,

become part of their life stories, memories, and an impor-

tant link in their social networks (Atkin 2004). Over the

past few years, many well-known brands have adopted

emotional-branding strategies, including Tide, Lexus,

Apple, Nike, IBM, Cheerios, McDonald's, and Starbucks

(Atkin 2004; Gobe 2001; Roberts 2004).

The benefits of emotional-branding strategies are

increasingly being endorsed by the academic marketing

community. For example, in a pioneering scholarly article

on consumer–brand connections, Fournier (1998) details

the ways that consumers can experience brands as relation-

ship partners that help them accomplish personal goals and

resolve dilemmas in their everyday lives. Rather than being

generated through skillful marketing, Fournier contends

that these relational meanings (i.e., love/passion, self-

connection, commitment, trust, and intimacy) emerge only

when brands become integrated into consumers' lives and

identity projects. Several subsequent studies (e.g., Brown,

K ozinets, and Sherry 2003; Holt 2002; Kates 2004; Zaltman

2003) have supported the identity significance of emotion-

ally based consumer–brand relationships.

The social dynamics that underlie the emotional-

branding paradigm have been most fully explicated in

scholarly studies of brand communities, such as the Harley

Owners Group and Apple Macintosh enthusiasts (e.g.,

McAlexander, Schouten, and Koenig 2002; Muniz and

O'Guinn 2001; Muniz and Schau 2005; O'Guinn and

Muniz 2005). In these communities, brand meanings are

collectively forged among a group of consumers. These

shared meanings enable consumers from diverse walks of

life and different geographic locales to experience deeply

satisfying feelings of community and solidarity. It is diffi-

cult to find a more striking example of "loyalty beyond rea-

son" (Roberts 2004) than the community of Apple Newton

devotees, who have religiously stuck by a brand long aban-

doned by its manufacturer and who go to arduous extremes

to continue using this increasingly antiquated technology

(Muniz and Schau 2005).

At present, the conceptual divide between emotional-

branding and more traditional benefit-driven branding

strategies is rapidly narrowing as emotional-branding prin-

ciples are being integrated into the benefit-driven brand

management paradigm. For example, Keller (2003a, p. 596)

commends Zaltman's metaphor elicitation technique,

52 / Journal of Marketing, January 2006

Fournier's brand relationship quality model, and ethno-

graphic research on brand communities for highlighting

"intangible aspects of brand knowledge not related to the

actual physical product or service specifications per se."

The pinnacle of Keller's (2003b, pp. 92–93) customer-based

brand equity pyramid is "brand resonance," which refers to

"the ultimate relationship and level of attachment that a

consumer has with a brand."

Emotional Branding and the Contested

Cocreation of Brand Meaning

The tenets of emotional branding are perfectly aligned with

the postmodern view that brand meanings are not controlled

by managers but rather are cocreated through ongoing inter-

actions among their users (Cova and Cova 2002; Fournier

1998; Muniz and O'Guinn 2001). In the emotional-

branding literature, consumers are commonly portrayed as

enthusiastic partners who engage in intimate dialogues with

other brand users and brand managers to create mutually

beneficial, identity-enhancing, community-building, and

loyalty-sustaining meanings (Atkin 2004; Gobe 2001;

Roberts 2004). The Apple Macintosh and Harley-Davidson

brand communities exemplify this model of shared brand

ownership. By participating in these collaborative dia-

logues, brand managers can gain valuable insights into

product design improvements and innovations, new product

development opportunities, and resonant meanings that can

be leveraged in advertising campaigns (Lindstrom 2005;

Roberts 2004). In addition, proponents of emotional brand-

ing argue that these passionate consumers/owners will often

act as brand missionaries, promoting the brand through

their own invocative, personalized brand stories (Gladwell

2000; McAlexander, Schouten, and Koenig 2002; Muniz

and O'Guinn 2001).

Y et this process of brand-meaning cocreation harbors

some infrequently discussed but consequential risks. When

a brand is viewed as transgressing or abandoning its

emotional-branding promises, formerly loyal customers can

create a significant backlash. This pernicious consequence

of passionate consumer–brand relationships is vividly illus-

trated by the travails of Snapple, which was brought to the

brink of collapse by a widespread rebellion among its most

loyal consumers—energized by the spurned former

spokesman Howard Stern, who angrily rechristened the

brand "Crapple"—after its new corporate owner, Quaker,

attempted to mainstream the brand (Deighton 2002; Holt

2003).

In addition to estranged customers, the media can also

circulate brand meanings that are maligning, worrisome, or

opprobrious. For example, as Martha Stewart gained

celebrity status, she also became the target of an escalating

litany of scandalous exposés, unflattering media construc-

tions, and pop culture satires, all of which generated serious

brand management headaches for Martha Stewart Living

Omnimedia, even before the ImClone scandal (Fournier and

Herman 2004). In these alternative cultural constructions, a

brand may be used as fodder for humorous parody, caution-

ary tales about latent lifestyle dangers (e.g., McDonald's

vilification in the muckraking documentary Super Size Me ),

or derisive critiques of corporate capitalism (e.g., Nike as

the poster child for sweatshop labor). These uncharitable

brand meanings and images can quickly spread through

multiple channels, such as the news media, entertainment

media, e-mail networks, and bloggers (see Klein 1999; Lasn

1999). Consider Procter & Gamble's initial introduction of

the fat substitute Olestra, which was effectively sunk by the

deadly combination of sensationalized press reports about

unpleasant gastrointestinal side effects and the incessant

lampooning of this supposed side effect by popular comedi-

ans, such as Jay Leno (see Gladwell 2001; Kozinets 2004).

Antibrand activists constitute another vocal group of

adversarial brand-meaning creators (see Kozinets and Han-

delman 2004). These activists, such as Adbusters

(www.adbusters.com), are often well-organized entities that

try to raise consumer consciousness about what they deem

to be the excesses and exploitations of corporate capitalism.

When these activists are successful in garnering attention

for their antibrand campaigns, a brand's image can take a

drastic turn. For example, in the mid-1990s, the cosmetic

retailer The Body Shop experienced a public relations crisis

and lowering of its investment ratings when the popular

press brought attention to activists' claims that the com-

pany's socially responsible identity was more hype than

reality (Atkin 2004; Entine 2003). In effect, these activists

were successful in creating a doppelgänger brand image

that directly competed with the corporate brand image

advanced by The Body Shop . A more recent example of

potent antibrand activism is offered by Cary and Van Neis-

tat's viral video "iPod's Dirty Secret," which portrays Apple

as intentionally exploiting customers by not offering a

replacement battery for this widely popular product. Their

viral video spread like wildfire across the Internet, and the

story was picked up by several mainstream news organiza-

tions. The resulting storm of controversy led Apple to offer

a replacement battery and, thereby, dramatically alter its

marketing strategy (Stuever 2003).

Antibrand activism comes in many forms, including

boycotts, demonstrations, organized public relations and

informational campaigns, and what has come to be known

as "culture jamming" (Kozinets and Handelman 2004; Lasn

1999). Culture jamming refers to a practice of using adver-

tising tools and techniques subversively to cast a critical

and often-demonizing light on marketing practices, such as

Adbusters' "Joe Chemo" parodies of R.J. Reynolds' contro-

versial Joe Camel campaign and their spoof advertisements

featuring jarring juxtapositions between Nike's inspira-

tional advertising rhetoric and stark images of sweatshop

laborers (http://www.adbusters.org/spoofads/). Culture jam-

mers tend to target successful iconic brands, such as Nike or

Starbucks, because these brands are considered corporate

capitalism's most valued (and vulnerable) symbolic assets

(Holt 2002; Klein 1999).

Adbusters and like-minded activists characterize them-

selves as antimarketers who use guerilla tactics to "uncool"

iconic brands (Lasn 1999) or, in our terminology, to create

doppelgänger brand images that resonate with consumers.

As the Internet and e-mail have become ubiquitous aspects

of everyday life and as digital-imaging software gains wide-

spread diffusion, the number of brand parodies and biting

culture-jamming satires that circulate in cyberspace has

Emotional Branding and the Doppelgänger Brand Image / 53

mushroomed and are now being recognized as a potentially

serious brand image threat (Earle 2002; Walker 2003).

Similar to a virulent virus, these alternative, often-

unflattering constructions of a brand can move through pop-

ular culture with lightening speed.

After a doppelgänger brand image is successfully dif-

fused into popular culture, it presents a competing set of

meanings that have the potential to influence consumer

beliefs and behavior. We suggest that a doppelgänger brand

image can provoke a sense of incongruity between the inti-

mate and inspirational tenor of an emotional-branding strat-

egy and the profit-driven motives of its corporate sponsor.

Under such conditions, the authenticity of an emotional-

branding story can become suspect, and the identity value

that the brand offers to consumers can become greatly

reduced (Holt 2002).

The literature on the psychological and cultural dimen-

sions of authenticity is extensive (for more comprehensive

reviews, see Campbell 1987; Cross 2000; Grayson and

Martinec 2004; MacCannell 1989). A recurrent conclusion

of these investigations is that the symbolic divide between

the authentic and the inauthentic is a cultural construction

rather than an inherent property of objects or actions. Sev-

eral influential scholars have also noted an enduring cul-

tural tension between the ideal of authenticity and popular

conceptions of commercialism, as evinced by conventional

laments about artists who compromise their integrity by

"selling out" (Lears 1994). Underlying this contrast

between the authentic and the commercial is a quasi-

religious belief that certain spheres of human existence

should remain sacred and distinct from the profane spheres

of commerce and profit seeking (Belk, Wallendorf, and

Sherry 1989).

The significance that consumers attribute to this

ephemeral ideal of authenticity has been documented in

several studies (e.g., Arnould and Price 1993; Fournier

1998; Grayson and Martinec 2004; Kozinets 2001;

Peñaloza 2000; Price and Arnould 1999; Thompson and

T ambyah 1999). Brands that successfully shroud them-

selves in the cloak of authenticity are able to convey desir-

able consumer meanings of inner directedness, lack of pre-

tense, and genuine commitment to brand-related activities

(see Lewis and Bridger 2000). In pursuit of the authenticity

grail, leading brands, such Miller, Burger King, Adidas, and

Coke, now routinely use stealth marketing campaigns that

are designed to give their brands a more authentic persona

through tactics such as the co-option of urban vernaculars

and styles and the seamless integration of their brands into

the worlds of art and entertainment (Frank 1997; Holt

2002).

However, these tactics are continuously monitored and

widely disparaged by antibrand activists as another insidi-

ous tactic used by Machiavellian marketers. In a consumer

culture marked by pervasive skepticism toward marketing

and advertising practices (Walker 2003; Wipperfürth 2005),

the authenticity of a brand can be extremely difficult for

brand managers to secure and disconcertingly easy for

antibrand activists to usurp. When activists propagate a

doppelgänger brand image, they are expressing a stinging

rebuke to the idea that a corporate-sponsored brand could

be a sincere relationship partner or offer genuine emotional

sustenance. In the following section, we highlight the

emerging doppelgänger brand imagery that is currently

challenging the authenticity of Starbucks's emotional-

branding claims.

Attacks on Starbucks's Perceived

A uthenticity

Currently, few brands are riding higher than Starbucks.

From its humble origins as a single coffee shop in Seattle a

mere 20 years ago, Starbucks has climbed the F ortune 500

ladder; it has approximately 7000 stores worldwide and a

projected total of 10,000 by the end of 2005 (www.

starbucks.com). Starbucks's revenue has climbed annually

at an average of 20% per year, and it generated more than

$4 billion in gross revenue and nearly $300 million in profit

during 2003 (Starbucks Corporation 2003, p. 12), though

the chain's same-store sales growth began to slow during

2004 (Ouchi 2004). However, these impressive financial

numbers do not fully tell the story of Starbucks's transfor-

mative role in popular culture. Starbucks has sparked a dra-

matic resurgence in coffee consumption in the United States

and has changed the leisure practices and daily routines for

a broad swath of consumers. The aesthetic look, feel, and

sound of Starbucks has influenced the design of retail ser-

vicescapes in general (Postrel 2003). Thus, Starbucks has

become an important cultural icon, and the "Starbucks revo-

lution" has, in large part, created the burgeoning market for

coffee shops and premium-priced gourmet coffee beans

(Helliker and Leung 2002).

Given its phenomenal rise, it is no surprise that Star-

bucks is widely heralded as a shining exemplar of emo-

tional branding and successful brand positioning (e.g.,

Gobe 2002; Keller 2000; Lewis and Bridger 2000; Roberts

2004; Schmitt 1999; Schmitt and Simonson 1996; Shields

2002). However, not everyone shares this unbridled enthusi-

asm for the brand. A Web search reveals a staggering num-

ber of anti-Starbucks Web sites that present extensively

elaborated criticisms of its business practices, scathing dia-

tribes, and manifold culture-jamming ploys. One particular

W eb posting from an antibrand activist organization in the

United Kingdom illustrates the spirit of these anti-Starbucks

sentiments (www2.spacehijackers.org/starbucks):

Starbucks make us feel ill, [w]ith their carefully chosen,

subtle (but not too bland) colour scheme. They try to sug-

gest some kind of ethnic, liberal charm. Even the back-

ground music has been Starbucked: watered-down, instru-

mental versions of Hendrix; after all, we wouldn't want to

offend. The quirky living room sofas and tables are not so

quirky when you realize they are identical to the other

thousands of stores, [a]nd those thousands of stores, like a

plague infesting our highstreets, are a McDonald's for the

new media generation.… Most of all, we dislike their ver-

minlike spread, subsidizing new stores in order to outprice

and close down local rivals, before turning entire towns

and cities that horrid green, [b]landing out any local cul-

ture and diversity worldwide.

Culture jammers routinely spread anti-Starbucks mean-

ings through cyberspace, using attention-grabbing blends of

narrative, satirical images, and animation. One animated

54 / Journal of Marketing, January 2006

W eb parody belittles the pretentiousness of the counter talk

that unfolds when a Starbucks' customer orders a drink.

Behind the barista is a sign proclaiming "We proudly propa-

gandize Star-Schmucks coffee" and listing ridiculously high

prices for standard coffee shop fare. When a trendily

dressed customer orders a "vente, white chocolate, mocha

thingy," a foul-mouthed cartoon chipmunk (imagine Alvin

crossed with Chris Rock) pops up and mercilessly ridicules

Starbucks's latte-lingo pretensions and everything else

about its customers and marketing tactics (www.

illwillpress.com/sml.html). A more scathing viral video

likens Starbucks to a Nazi-like empire, steadily and ever-

more aggressively pursuing world domination (www.

albinoblacksheep.com/flash/sbux.php).

Through this gamut of critical parodies, anti-Starbucks

activists use humor and satire to assail this brand for many

perceived misdeeds, including crushing local competition,

degrading the environment, exploiting third-world workers,

homogenizing local cultures, and perpetuating the worst

excesses of status-conscious consumerism, as evinced by

the cultural-jamming takes on its iconic mermaid logo (see

Figure 1). Although these brand disparagements may be sta-

tistically and factually contestable, they put meanings into

cultural circulation that challenge the authenticity of Star-

bucks's emotional-branding promises.

Of course, most consumers are not antibrand activists.

However, these culture-jamming criticisms regularly enter

into mainstream cultural discourse, such as media satires of

Starbucks's breakneck expansion, as exemplified by the

Onion's (a satirical newspaper) mock headline "New Star-

bucks Opens in Rest Room of Existing Starbucks" that has

been widely circulated on the Web or the lampooning car-

toon presented in Figure 2. Although more sedate in tone,

these parodies nonetheless reinforce the doppelgänger

image that Starbucks is little more than a profit-driven, mar-

keting affectation and that its customers are either dupes or

shameless trend followers.

Much like a conventional brand image, the ultimate

meanings of a doppelgänger brand image are forged by the

consumers who interpret and use them in the context of

their everyday lives. In the next section, we (1) highlight the

aspects of Starbucks's doppelgänger brand image that most

strongly resonate with our sample of consumers and (2)

analyze how these meanings are incorporated into these

consumers' preferences, lifestyles, belief systems, and iden-

tities. Drawing from these qualitative insights, we then dis-

cuss how these seemingly adversarial meanings can be used

in a diagnostic fashion to understand, monitor, and proac-

tively manage an emotional-branding strategy more

effectively.

An Analysis of Starbucks's

Doppelgänger Brand Image

During the course of this study, we collected data over a

two-year period, using a multisite approach. Our primary

data consist of tape-recorded phenomenological interviews

with 36 coffee shop patrons across two locations: a large

city and a quintessential "latte town" (see Brooks 2000, pp.

103–109). The interviews totaled more than 60 hours of

FIGURE 1

Culture-Jamming Starbucks's Mermaid Logo

Notes: The image in the lower left-hand corner has been altered to remove profanity.

Emotional Branding and the Doppelgänger Brand Image / 55

Source: From the Utne Reader . Reprinted with permission.

FIGURE 2

A Popular Culture Parody of Starbucks

conversation, which we tape-recorded to produce 600 pages

of single-spaced text. These interviews were supplemented

by extensive field notes and numerous photographs from

on-site observations of patrons across six different local

coffee shops.

Interviews were conducted in six different coffee shops,

ranging from those that were militantly anti-Starbucks and

fashioned around a countercultural motif to those that

exhibited a polished aesthetic much like that of Starbucks.

This diversity of locales enabled us to accumulate narratives

from respondents with a broad range of opinions about the

Starbucks brand. Many of our participants also patronized a

wide variety of coffee shops, and a few reported that they

periodically frequented Starbucks. Thus, our interviews also

elicited participants' perceptions and evaluations of the

broader coffee shop scene in relation to Starbucks.

Participants were informed that the interviews pertained

to their experiences and perceptions of coffee shops and

were ensured that their identity would remain confidential.

Each interview began with a set of "grand tour" questions

(McCracken 1988) about participants' personal back-

grounds, interests, and life goals and then focused on their

experiences and perceptions of local coffee shops. Inter-

viewers were provided with a small set of predetermined

topics to cover (e.g., what participants liked and disliked

about their local coffee shop, their perceptions of the coffee

shop's regular customers). In keeping with depth interview

protocols (e.g., McCracken 1988; Thompson, Locander,

and Pollio 1989), however, we allowed participants to guide

the flow and content of the discussion to minimize the risk

of interviewer-induced biases. These interviews had a con-

versational quality; interviewers interjected predetermined

questions only when breaks in the dialogue arose. Impor-

tantly, the interviewers did not introduce the topic of Star-

bucks. However, in all of our 36 cases, the interviewees

raised the distinction between their preferred coffee shop

and contrasting doppelgänger meanings attributed to Star-

bucks. Further probes were then used to elucidate how these

consumers understood Starbucks and the kind of identity

projected by its brand image.

We interpreted this body of qualitative data using a

hermeneutic approach (Thompson 1997). In this approach,

provisional understandings are formed, challenged, revised,

and further developed through an iterative movement

between individual transcripts and the emerging under-

standing of the entire set of textual data. Thus, each inter-

view was initially treated as a separate idiographic case in

which we attempted to uncover the salient meanings and

identity projects (e.g., Mick and Buhl 1992) that each par-

ticipant pursued. As our interpretation unfolded, we

attempted to recognize thematic and narrative commonali-

ties that emerged across the data set. Our aim was to iden-

tify the most recurrent and robust patterns of underlying

cultural meanings that engendered these identified com-

monalities. This hermeneutic mode of interpretation is

premised on the idea that a given consumer is not express-

ing a strictly subjective viewpoint. Instead, he or she is

articulating a culturally shared system of meanings and

beliefs, personalized to fit his or her specific life goals and

circumstances (Thompson 1997).

Overview of Emergent Themes

Jack: It's [Starbucks] just a huge corporation. I mean, just

a gigantic corporation. They're all over the world. Thou-

sands of outlets, and they come in, run specials, cut prices,

and break other coffee shops—just drive them out of busi-

ness. Because, unfortunately, there's not a lot of loyalty

out there as far as consumers are concerned. They're usu-

ally going to go where they spend the least amount of

money; they're going for the bargains rather than loyalty

to local businesspeople.

The doppelgänger meanings plaguing the Starbucks

brand are culturally grounded in a particular form of market

populism that portrays large corporations as exploitive and

rapacious agents whose actions run counter to the best

interests of ordinary consumers and small business owners

(Cohen 2003; Kelly 2001). However, the accuracy of this

populist anticorporatism is widely contested. For example,

the two firms most commonly accused of predatory prac-

tices, Wal-Mart and Starbucks, counter that they actually

improve local economies and create greater opportunities

for small businesses. In the case of Starbucks, this anticom-

petitive charge is particularly ironic because the so-called

Starbucks revolution has corresponded to a dramatic rise in

the number of locally owned coffee shops (Helliker and

Leung 2002).

However, brand image is much more a matter of per-

ceived meaning and cultural mythology (Holt 2003; Mark

and Pearson 2001) than an aggregation of verified evidence.

Regarding Jack's vignette, for example, there is little evi-

dence that Starbucks, which maintains a premium market

position, underprices local competitors. However, Jack's

accusation is consistent with the populist idea that large

corporations are modern-day robber barons that, as a matter

of course, aggressively wield their clout to crush relatively

powerless mom-and-pop operations.

The David versus Goliath portrayal of competition

between a small, locally owned establishment and a global

56 / Journal of Marketing, January 2006

chain, such as Starbucks, makes for a particularly com-

pelling mythic formulation in which the consumer can also

assume heroic qualities. Through patronage of local alterna-

tives, these consumers construe themselves as participating

in a dramatic populist struggle against corporate titans, such

as Starbucks. Their heroic self-constructions are further but-

tressed by historically recurrent examples of corporations

abusing their economic and political power and putting

immediate profits over long-term societal and environmen-

tal interests, as exemplified by the well-publicized corpo-

rate accounting scandals of 2002.

Among our sample of local coffee shop patrons, the

identity value of avoiding the Starbucks brand and the ven-

eration of their preferred local alternatives hinged on two

primary motifs, both of which have underlying connections

to this brand's lack of perceived authenticity: (1) the cos-

mopolitan motif and (2) the artisan/owner motif. Through

the cosmopolitan motif, local coffee shops are constructed

as sites for acquiring authentically distinctive social and aes-

thetic experiences that are not readily available in corporate-

run servicescapes and commercial settings. Through the

artisan/owner motif, our participants view local coffee shops

as atavistic throwbacks to a bygone era that existed before

the marketplace dominance of national chains, when dedi-

cated proprietors put their personal stamps on all facets of

the business. Importantly, our data indicate that these

authenticating narratives are forged through a critical com-

parison to Starbucks, which is summarily constructed as

little more than a commercialized facsimile of a genuine

coffee shop and is perceived as lacking any authentic

expression of the cosmopolitan or artisan/owner motifs.

Notably, these two motifs closely mirror Starbucks's

highly publicized homage to European cafés (including the

attendant ideals of cultural sophistication, worldly engage-

ment, and intellectual conversations) and its related market

positioning as a comfortable communal space in which con-

sumers can relax and socialize (Schultz 1997; Shields

2002). Our participants embrace these cosmopolitan and

communal motifs as defining features of an authentic coffee

shop, and they perceive Starbucks as being unable to deliver

on these emotional-branding promises.

A Distinctive Cultural Experience (the

Cosmopolitan Motif)

Scott: I don't like Starbucks, because it seemed like every

time I was there, the people have their laptop and then they

have their New York Times or whatever, their espresso, and

it just seems sterile. There was nothing, like here it's a lit-

tle gothic and a little different. So it seemed too sterile.

Distaste for Starbucks's sterility and boring uniformity

is a prominent refrain in our interviews. Our participants

widely condemned Starbucks for offering a bland, prepack-

aged, focus-group-tested consumption experience that

caters to bourgeois tastes. In diametric contrast, our partici-

pants view local coffee shops as locales for authentic

expression of cultural uniqueness and alternative (i.e., non-

corporate) sensibilities.

The quest for authentic cultural experiences has been

discussed as a prominent motivator of global travels (Mac-

Cannell 1989) and excursions to historic sites, museums,

and reenactments (Grayson and Martinec 2004; Peñaloza

2000). In an era marked by cultural concerns over market-

place standardization, homogenization, and a growing

antipathy toward generic suburban landscapes populated by

cookie-cutter homes and strip malls (Oldenburg 1997;

Ritzer 1998), the search for authenticity is often coupled

with a desire to experience distinctive cultural worlds (Holt

1998; Thompson and Tambyah 1999). This cosmopolitan

motif is prominent among our sample of local coffee shop

patrons, who consistently characterized an authentic coffee

shop as one that provides a spontaneous experience of local

color that cannot be attained elsewhere. Importantly, these

coveted cosmopolitan experiences are understood through

the critical contrast to Starbucks's doppelgänger meaning of

being a highly standardized, calculated, and status-

conscious servicescape. Consider the following passage:

Brian: I mean, if you just think of coffee culture, you're

thinking about, you know, struggling artists. I hate to

stereotype like that, but, I mean, with the local coffee

places, you're going to have a little more idiosyncrasy, a

little local flavor, color to the place. They might have a

specialty kind of menu or something, or they might make

[or] do something unique. But, say you're in San Fran-

cisco or Seattle, and you see a Starbucks; you more or less

know what you're going to get when you walk in the door.

This place is kind of an eclectic nature. Yeah, I just like

the area. It's kind of a bohemian area of town. It's not like

cookie cutter like Starbucks. You don't have to be a certain

class to go there; more or less, you can be of any class

really. I mean you just, what I like about it is, you never

know what kind of character is going to show up here

when you're having your coffee.

Through the mundane act of patronizing local coffee

shops, our participants can experience themselves as rebels

who are consuming against the grain of corporate-

dominated mainstream conformity. Through this formula-

tion, their experiences of authentic cultural difference and

social diversity afforded by their favorite coffee shops

become a resource for cultivating a sense of personal dis-

tinctiveness and defiant individuality. Conversely, their dia-

metric contrast to Starbucks's doppelgänger meanings (i.e.,

corporate conformity and mass-market standardization)

functions as a frame of reference that enhances these expe-

riences of authenticity:

Frank: Well, yeah, a place like this is unique, which I like.

It very much caters to, you know, the population around

here. It's very, you know, it's comforting to somebody

who lives in the suburbs. It's unique, it's got its artsy sort

of thing, but as opposed to Starbucks, you know, every-

where it's still the same corporate kind of cookie-cutter

type of place that is more, that I don't see the same

uniqueness. You know, you can come in here and get a cup

of coffee, and it's going to be different than what you get

in [name of another local establishment]; it's going to taste

a little bit different, but you know, [in] every Starbucks,

the food and drinks are pretty much the same. So, I mean,

just a place like this has more personality. I wouldn't go to

Starbucks. I'll go out of my way to go all the way to the

East Side—for me, a drive from here is about six miles. I'd

rather do that, and it's just more of a satisfying experience.

Similarly, Ellen echoes Adbusters' critique of mass con-

sumer culture as a stultifying force (Lasn 1999) that incul-

Emotional Branding and the Doppelgänger Brand Image / 57

cates preferences for standardized experiences that are

familiar and comforting but ultimately inauthentic:

Ellen: Well, I actually don't go into coffee shops that are

chains, or I avoid them as much as possible. I don't do

stores that are chains.

Interviewer: Tell me about that.

Ellen: Well, I don't want to participate in sort of the cor-

porate spread into the world. I have the feeling that people

that go to chain places have some sort of sense of their

safety in doing that. Like, it's always the same no matter

where they go. It actually becomes the culture.

Interviewer : Can you explain that a little more?

Ellen: When you go to Paris or you go someplace out in

the world, the tendency is to want to find something that's

home, something that you know, and if you walk down the

street and find a McDonald's or a Starbucks, you know,

this is your home, because these things have become so

entrenched in the culture that it's not even conscious. If

you go to look for restaurants, to look for places that are

locally owned and run, they are not the same all over

everywhere and that takes, it feels as if it takes effort. Like

people, it takes effort and daring to try something that

isn't the same. If you're somebody who's used to going

into the same all the time, I think that's a sad comment on

our culture.

Interviewer: What are some of the things you think about

when choosing a coffee shop?

Ellen: Okay, I check out whether it's a place that has inter-

esting people in it that look like I might want to get to

know them. If it offers soy milk (laugh), that's peculiar! If

it embraces variety, isn't rushed…. I think that's important

too. I like being in a place where people aren't, you know,

pounding a cup of coffee and zooming out somewhere. A

certain kind of vitality I like as well. I look for where

people are alive and active and doing something with their

lives.

In this passage, Ellen forges a symbolic contrast

between a standardized and mass-marketed consumer cul-

ture that caters to a risk-averse and staid clientele and the

authentic experiences of local cultural charm that exist out-

side the sphere of corporate chains. Through her avoidance

of chains, Ellen venerates her consumption preferences and

lifestyle by pejoratively framing consumers as people who

are trapped in the proverbial rat race and who lack time or

inclination to live life to its fullest. In sharp symbolic con-

trast, she aligns herself with an enlightened community that

leads authentic and purposeful lives, exhibiting a relaxed

sense of joie de vivre and an enthusiasm for new experi-

ences and cosmopolitan pleasures. Much like the value-

laden distinction between tourists and travelers (see Mac-

Cannell 1989; i.e., "Everyone else is a tourist, but I am a

traveler"), a devout preference for local coffee shops and

publicly expressed antipathy toward corporate chains, such

as Starbucks, can be lionized as a sign of personal virtue

and self-directed (rather than marketing-influenced) cos-

mopolitan tastes.

Beyond the personal significance of these identity-

enhancing symbolic distinctions, these consumer narratives

also highlight an important cultural aspect about percep-

tions of authenticity. Prior research has suggested that expe-

riences of servicescape authenticity are steeped in a per-

ceived fidelity to historical circumstances, cultural tradi-

tions, or the lives of famous people (Grayson and Martinec

2004; Peñaloza 2000). In the case of the American coffee

shop scene, however, these cultural pillars of authenticity

carry less symbolic weight. For example, Ellen's preferred

coffee shop had been in operation for only three years, so it

could not lay claim to some long-standing tradition. In gen-

eral, local coffee shops tend to be simulations of a romanti-

cized image of the Greenwich Village beatnik/bohemian

coffeehouses (circa the 1950s) or left-bank French cafés

frequented by beret-wearing, existential-spouting intellectu-

als. In this context, compelling claims to authenticity must

be actively constructed, and the symbolic distinctions

forged through Starbucks's doppelgänger brand meanings

loom large in this regard. Particularly, the authenticity of

local coffee shops' cultural ambiance is contingent on the

idea that Starbucks's trademark servicescape is a marketing

affectation designed to maximize profitability rather than an

authentic, spontaneous expression of local culture:

Anne: My image of Starbucks is pretty bad. Even though I

haven't been there that many times, I think of [it] as more

commercial, um, selling out in a way because you think

of, like, Starbucks, they find out what people want and the

atmosphere and the CDs and the merchandise, and you

know, they're doing a really good job with all that, but

something about that whole idea…. I just want to rebel

against it. It's almost too analytical, where, you know, this

place is just more "spiritual," you know, it's more that

feeling; it's not as analytical. It's just more emotional or

something.

Our participants' sharp distinction between authentic

coffee shops and crass commercial interests reveals a glar-

ing historical misconception. As McFall (2004) discusses,

eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European coffeehouses

were protomarketing sites. Not only were they segmented

according to different consumer interests, emphasizing

poetry/literature, news, storytelling, and gossip, but they

also provided an important means to distribute advertise-

ments (with several advertising agencies actually originat-

ing from the coffeehouse trade) and commercial gathering

points for auctions, sales, and business meetings. However,

this historical intertwining of the commercial and the cul-

tural does not easily align with romanticized desires for

spontaneous cultural experiences that reveal the defining

essence of a community. Through these invidious contrasts

to Starbucks, however, local coffee shops can appear to be

less driven by marketing considerations and more closely

linked to their local community. In other words, our con-

sumers' perceptions of authenticity emerge in relation to

their critical constructions of Starbucks and the corporate

staging of its servicescape.

An Intimate Commercial Experience (the Artisan/

Owner Motif)

Patrick: Stammcafé is a German word for your neighbor-

hood café, where you're a regular, and it's great because it

totally says that idea, which is you have your local, local

place, you know, your stammcafé , the place that you

always go to, and then there are "cafés," where you just

kind of go and, you know, when you're out with friends or

58 / Journal of Marketing, January 2006

if you're in another part of town for a movie or things like

that; so sure, why not go there, you know? But the stamm-

café, you have a special sort of relationship.

Patrick's musings about his stammcafé bear a close rela-

tion to Oldenburg's (1997) concept of "third places" (i.e.,

public spaces that function as social gathering points and

provide a proverbial home away from home, where a person

can experience camaraderie and community). Oldenburg

suggests that third places are characterized by a regular

clientele who gather to experience a particular form of inti-

macy in these commercial spaces. This form of intimacy

typically does not arise in the formality of the workplace,

and it is more relaxing and convivial than the private inti-

macy of family relationships because it carries fewer inter-

personal demands, responsibilities, and obligations. Impor-

tantly, the heart and soul of this commercial intimacy is the

establishment's proprietor. In the ideal case, patrons believe

that they are being personally enriched by their relationship

to a unique character (see Oldenburg 1997; Price and

Arnould 1999).

This sense of having an authentic connection to an indi-

vidual proprietor is quite salient to our local coffee shop

patrons. However, our interviews and observations suggest

that, in general, the servicescapes of American coffee shops

do not exhibit the kind of public intimacy and collectively

shared conversations that Oldenburg argues are a defining

cultural characteristic of third places. The social milieu of

the contemporary coffee shop simply does not enjoin such

spirited expressions of camaraderie and social bonding.

Rather, it tends to foster more individualized experiences of

a common connection to the owner/proprietor, who is

viewed as the embodiment of the establishment's values

and its quirky, endearing qualities.

In this sense, our participants' narratives parallel some

findings from Price and Arnould's (1999) analysis of com-

mercial friendships, particularly in regard to the role of an

owner's self-revelations in generating a sense of shared inti-

macy. However, the range of personal information our par-

ticipants desired is fairly narrow. These consumers want to

know just enough about the proprietor to draw inferences

about how the coffee shop reflects his or her views and val-

ues. Thus, this bounded intimacy enables customers to craft

a compelling story about why their preferred coffee shop is

truly different and, thus, fundamentally and irrevocably dis-

tinct from the corporate-run and standardized Starbucks:

Interviewer: What is a local coffee shop for you?

Sandra: For me, it would be a coffee shop that isn't

national, something that is not a chain. Like this coffee

shop, the owner is here most of the time I am here, and I

just find that I really respect that, and I have had conversa-

tions with the owner before. I know that he used to be,

like, in the jewelry business; he left that and opened a cof-

fee shop. So I just find that pretty interesting that the

owner frequents the place and works there and has a con-

nection to the customer.

Interviewer: So what is it about knowing the owner or

having the owner living in the area that's important to

you?

Sandra: I like to support local business. I think that Star-

bucks, in a way, is very sterile. I mean it doesn't have

much character and personality, because it is this mass-

produced business, and I think that when you have a situ-

ation where there are so many, it becomes more imper-

sonal, and the people who work there don't care as much I

would guess. I would think that if it's locally owned, the

owner is more involved. He or she would have more con-

nection to the employees, and the employees would prob-

ably feel better about working for this person that you see

regularly. I mean if you look at this place, it's unique.

There is no other place like it in town; there is no other

place in the world just like it. But if you look at Starbucks,

it's pretty common. It's just not as interesting, I think.

Much like our other participants, Sandra praises local

coffee shops for having a one-of-kind quality that emanates

directly from the owner's personal touches and that are con-

spicuously absent from Starbucks's mass-marketed ser-

vicescape. Our participants tend to read considerable mean-

ing into their experiences of local charm. They view these

distinctive features of the local coffee shops as a kind of

self-revelation on the part of the proprietor, who is express-

ing his or her own personal tastes and values. Furthermore,

these various signs of uniqueness are taken as compelling

signals that these proprietors are following their own muses

rather than calculating what offerings would be most popu-

lar to a particular customer segment. Paradoxically, this

apparent "take-it-or-leave-it" indifference to customer

whims provides these establishments with a particular

appeal, particularly in contrast to Starbucks, which is con-

sidered a conservative and boring servicescape designed not

to offend anyone's sensibilities:

Kevin: I visited my sister in Oakland; there are three cof-

fee shops on Piedmont Avenue. I've been to all three. One

is a place called Peet's coffee; it's like a local that's gone

national. Then there's the Starbucks of course, and then

there's another little place that I went to that I started to

frequent and just loved. It was a little left leaning, kind of

different. Their coffee was high quality and stuff, but this

little ma-and-pa place served ice cream; they had ice

cream as part of their coffee shop—a little different. They

had a Ms. Pac-Man video game there, and they also put on

the walls photographs of homeless people. They pay

homeless people to have Polaroid pictures taken—they

would ask for permission of course—and then they gave

them, like, $20 or something, and it becomes art on the

wall. They weren't afraid to be nontraditional; that's what

I loved. Someplace like Starbucks wouldn't dare do that.

In these consumer narratives, local coffee shop propri-

etors are venerated for being sincerely and deeply commit-

ted to their clientele, employees, and the neighborhood at

large. In contrast, Starbucks is described as a corporate

interloper that wants to reap profits through a mass-

produced servicescape and that conspicuously lacks an

authentic connection to the local community. Sandra's pas-

sage also reiterates the previously discussed heroic framing

of the local coffee shop. The proprietor is celebrated for

fighting to maintain an invaluable and distinctive commu-

nity asset against the powerful forces of an impersonal cor-

porate chain. Through this heroic interpretation, Sandra's

own patronage of local coffee shops takes on a heightened

moral and social significance, representing a means through

which she can help ameliorate the blight of standardized

corporate servicescapes.

Emotional Branding and the Doppelgänger Brand Image / 59

Beyond this immediate sense of personal connection

and reciprocal commitment, our participants also portray

the proprietors of their favorite coffee shops as devoted arti-

sans, who enact laudable virtues through their business

activity, such as educating the palettes of their clientele (in

the manner of a wine connoisseur):

Carie: I love Tina [the owner]. I think, originally, people

came into [name of local establishment] for a hit of coffee

and a hit of Tina. You know, she's got such great energy. I

love to see Tina, and I love the coffee. I love the freshness

of their coffee. You know, and I buy their beans. It was

really fun when she was first getting into roasting coffee.

She had a popcorn popper, like an air popper. Which is

very similar to the big roaster that they use. The same

technology, so she was experimenting with different

beans. She'd bring over, like, little tiny Ziplock bags full

of different coffees. So she'd have us try it all the time. At

first, it was like a little bit, it was so intense, you're not

used to drinking that fresh of a coffee, and then you sort

of develop like this, it's like drinking wine. You know, you

don't really appreciate, like, a really good wine at first,

and then you start to appreciate it…. She is real connected

to the Kaladi Brothers up in Alaska, up in Anchorage, and

so it's really fun, because we were up in Anchorage, and

you know, Kaladi Brothers was all over the place. Like

you'd see a sign, "We serve Kaladi Brothers Coffee." It's

the same awesome quality, really consistent, you know,

roasting, and everything. My guess is that's her inspira-

tion. And Kaladi Brothers, their main shop is off this road

that's difficult to get to; it has no parking, and you know,

so the same kind of thing as [her favorite coffee shop's

location]. It's not like in the perfect shopping mall and

real accessible, so.

This passage exemplifies the shared experience between

a proprietor and customers that imbues local coffee shops

with an undeniable sense of authenticity. In this case, Carie

views herself as intimately involved in the proprietor's

(Tina) efforts to perfect a time-honored craft and to culti-

vate greater consumer appreciation for skillfully roasted

coffee. In keeping with the artisan ideal, Tina (the propri-

etor) has earned a further claim to authenticity through her

apprenticeship at Kaladi Brothers Coffee and her choice of

an out-of-the-way location for her shop, which contributes

to the sense that she is not catering to the masses (a la Star-

bucks) but only to those who can really appreciate a great

cup of coffee (and are willing to make some effort to attain

it).

As Brown (2003) suggests, under certain market condi-

tions, inconvenience—the bane of conventional marketing

management thought—can actually increase customer loy-

alty and commitment. Through this nexus of meanings,

Carie's patronage of her favorite local coffee shop facili-

tates an identity project that is particularly salient to con-

sumers with higher levels of cultural capital (Holt 1998).

Such consumers strive to demonstrate the distinctiveness

and sophistication of their aesthetic tastes by consciously

seeking out unique consumer experiences that exist off the

proverbial beaten path (Thompson and Tambyah 1999).

Starbucks's mass-marketed coffee and its ubiquitous

convenience-oriented servicescapes provide a readily recog-

nizable symbol of the consumer mainstream, and thus the

brand serves as a symbolic foil for consumers who pursue

this sense of cosmopolitan distinctiveness.

Conventional brand management theory holds that, in

general, consumers avoid brands whenever negative associ-

ations, such as those dogging Starbucks, become strongly

established in their minds. Through brand avoidance, con-

sumers circumvent the risk that these stigmatized meanings

will sully their public image or self-concept (see Keller

2003b). However, our research provides evidence that con-

sumers do not just avoid doppelgänger brand meanings but

rather consciously leverage these disparaging meanings in

ways that reinforce an identity-affirming belief that they are

more daring and discriminating than the average, main-

stream consumer.

Summary

Our cultural analysis suggests that the widespread critiques

(by both mass media and antibrand activists) of Starbucks

as a rapacious corporate titan are reworked by consumers to

create an identity-enhancing morality tale, premised on the

consumption ideal of authenticity. The subtext of this

authenticating narrative is the David versus Goliath myth,

which imbues our participants' experiences of oppositional

brand loyalty (see Muniz and O'Guinn 2001) with a partic-

ularly strong emotional charge. Our participants perceive

local coffee shops as loci of authentic consumption experi-

ences and social relationships. These two themes map onto

contradictions that exist between Starbucks's emotional-

branding promises and its highly public presence as a

global corporate chain. Starbucks's emotional-branding

strategy encourages consumers to desire a sense of intimacy

and cultural distinctiveness, but paradoxically, it is not as

well suited to deliver on these experiential promises as are

the myriad local coffee shops that have followed in its

frothy corporate wake.

In the following section, we offer some culturally

grounded extrapolations beyond our interview data to spec-

ify which aspects of Starbucks's emotional-branding strat-

egy contribute to its doppelgänger brand image and render

it susceptible to the stigma of inauthenticity. Drawing from

this cultural reading, we then illustrate how an analysis of a

brand's doppelgänger meanings can be used (1) to diagnose

emerging cultural changes that could undermine the authen-

ticity of its emotional-branding story and (2) to gain

insights into how this brand story could be altered to avoid

this undesirable outcome. This kind of interpretive move is

consistent with theoretical arguments that the analyses of

consumer narratives gain explanatory power and enhanced

managerial relevance when they are supplemented by

broader considerations of their supporting social, cultural,

and historical contexts (see Arnould and Wallendorf 1994;

Holt 2003; Thompson 1997; Zaltman 2003).

Diagnosing Starbucks's

Au thenticity Dilemma

Starbucks's success is widely attributed to its ability to

deliver consistently the communal ambiance, conviviality,

and emotional warmth of a quaint European café (Schultz

1997; Shields 2002). According to this explanation, Star-

bucks has attained market dominance because its carefully

designed servicescape is an inviting and comfortable place

60 / Journal of Marketing, January 2006

for consumers to meet, socialize, and enjoy a memorable

coffee-drinking experience (Aaker 2004; Keller 2000;

Roberts 2004; Schmitt 1999; Schultz 1997). The putative

importance of the third-place experiences sits uneasily with

tracking studies that indicate that more than 70% of Star-

bucks's customers are "grab-and-go" types, who are most

concerned with speed of service (Moon and Quelch 2004;

Stone 2004) and, thus, spend little time imbibing its quaint-

ness and warmth.

This marketplace disparity raises the possibility that this

third-place appeal is a peripheral aspect of Starbucks's iden-

tity value and emotional appeal. We also note that the dis-

paraging portrayals of the Starbucks brand, whether

expressed by our participants or by the gamut of anti-

Starbucks Web sites, never question the basic premise that

Starbucks is a good place to meet friends and have casual

conversations. Rather, challenges to Starbucks's authentic-

ity appear to target a deeper emotional level that cuts to the

heart of the brand's identity value.

T aking a cue from Holt's (2004) thesis that brands attain

iconic standing when they provide myths that consumers

can use to assuage salient threats to their identities, we

begin by noting that Starbucks became a cultural icon dur-

ing this heyday of the mid-1990s new economy and the dot-

com boom. These socioeconomic conditions gave rise to a

professional class of symbolic workers who were well

rewarded for their creative skills. These professionals

inhabited organizations that were increasingly decentralized

and that reveled in having an informal and playful corporate

culture that sharply deviated from bureaucratic norms

(Florida 2002).

The social commentator David Brooks (2000) cleverly

christened this new professional class as the Bobos, that is,

a new breed of professionals who attempted to meld the

bourgeois values of hard work, career success, and material

affluence with the bohemian values of creativity, expres-

siveness, anticonformism, and antimaterialism (for a related

discussion of how Volkswagen became the automotive

brand of choice among the Bobo class, see Holt 2004).

Through this postmodern identity, people could be career

driven and yet define themselves as anticonformists who

live by an edict of creativity and self-expressiveness, and

they could lead affluent, brand-conscious lifestyles while

viewing themselves as committed antimaterialists.

To maintain a coherent self-identity, Bobos needed a

means to assuage the many cultural conflicts posed by these

juxtapositions. Thus, for members (and aspirants) of this

new class, Starbucks delivered exactly the right kind of

mythic story. Through its embodiment of a hip, creative,

caring form of capitalism, this brand image erased any

sense of cultural incompatibilities between bourgeois and

bohemian value systems. Starbucks catered to these new

class sensibilities in every aspect of its brand delivery, most

particularly its patented decor that emulates not a European

café but rather the decor of creative-class office spaces

(Florida 2002; Schmitt and Simonson 1996). The symbolic

message is that Starbucks is an appropriately informal, cre-

ativity conducive space in which the creative class can meld

their professional and bohemian identities and directly

experience material and symbolic identity validation.

Through their patronage of Starbucks, corporate bohemians

can reinforce the authenticity of their delicate ideological

balancing act and thus allay concerns that they are corporate

clones who, in some way, may be culpable for the social

and environmental problems widely attributed to corporate

capitalism.

The doppelgänger brand meanings we have identified in

this study provide some evidence that Starbucks's rapid

(and much parodied) market expansion is beginning to

undermine this brand's ability to assuage the identity con-

flicts facing the corporate bohemian class. In effect, Star-

bucks's doppelgänger brand image unravels its corporate

bohemian synthesis and suggests that its bohemian image is

a marketing gambit designed to mask its real identity as a

corporate titan. This is a potentially severe threat to Star-

bucks's continued marketing success, because if it loses its

aura of authenticity, it can no longer symbolically affirm the

Bobo-ish identities of its core customers. In addition, more

casual customers may also be more predisposed to question

the brand's commitment to social responsibility and the

artisan craft of coffee roasting. Such a development would

likely make Starbucks vulnerable to competitors in the form

of small independents, regional chains, and national com-

petitors, such as Peet's.

The franchise of an iconic brand, such as Starbucks, is

typically built around a relatively small segment of

extremely loyal customers who validate the authenticity of

its emotional-branding story and act as brand evangelists.

Through the actions of this devoted core, the brand acquires

a heightened cultural cachet that, in turn, attracts a broader

segment of peripheral consumers who draw from the

brand's symbolic value (Holt 2004; McAlexander,

Schouten, and Koenig 2002). As exemplified by the travails

of brands such as Snapple and Volkswagen (circa the 1970s

and 1980s), when these core customers begin to abandon an

iconic brand, it precipitates a downward cultural spiral,

which can erode brand equity and market share (see Holt

2004). Thus, a relatively small number of brand avoiders

could be the impetus to a cultural tipping point (Gladwell

2000) that weakens Starbucks's brand franchise.

In summary, our analysis indicates that Starbucks's

aggressive growth strategy, highly publicized market domi-

nation, and omnipresence no longer mesh with its appeal to

a countercultural, bohemian sensibility and that this strat-

egy may be compromising the perceived authenticity of its

emotional-branding story. However, an analysis of doppel-

gänger brand meanings can only take brand strategists so

far in deciding whether a brand's image should be reconfig-

ured and in identifying what new cultural contradictions

should be targeted in an attempt to revise its brand position-

ing. To accomplish this strategic task, brand strategists need

to analyze thoroughly the socioeconomic and cultural con-

ditions currently facing their core customers. For example,

the conditions that characterized the "new economy" during

Starbucks's rise to iconic status have been fundamentally

altered by the puncturing of the dot-com bubble. The cur-

rent economic climate is colored by the events of Septem-

ber 11 and a heightened sense of economic vulnerability

that has arisen from dramatic declines in new job produc-

tion and other related factors, such as corporations' out-

Emotional Branding and the Doppelgänger Brand Image / 61

sourcing of the new class's "creative work" to lower-wage

countries (Pink 2005). By analyzing how these insecurities

are represented in popular culture (through books, maga-

zines, films, music, blogs, and other media) and by studying

how consumers understand their own lives in relation to

them, insights can be gained into resonant life concerns that

the Starbucks brand can credibly speak to through its

emotional-branding efforts.

As a hypothetical illustration, imagine that follow-up

research reveals a growing cultural tension between Ameri-

cans' historically optimistic view of the future (and the

corollary belief that everyone can succeed if they work hard

and apply their talents) and a more pessimistic view that

economic fate is controlled by forces outside of personal

control (and that fate is not always kind or just). This hypo-

thetical cultural contradiction could support a brand

mythology that represents Starbucks as a pillar of stability

and security in consumers' lives (thus reframing the doppel-

gänger meanings about Starbucks's "boring standardiza-

tion" as a positive). Going further, Starbucks could assume

the role of an ally or partner that helps consumers take

charge of their professional lives and accomplish life goals

in the face of random and arbitrary obstacles. Starbucks's

professional, corporate aura (again, currently viewed as a

negative) and the stimulating properties of its product could

lend themselves to this reformulated emotional-branding

story.

Implications for Strategic Brand

Management

In general, the emotional-branding literature reads like a

heroic tale in which intrepid brand managers break with

orthodox branding strategies and are rewarded with

intensely loyal customers, heightened profits, and a nearly

impervious foundation of competitive advantage. These

heroic testaments to the power of emotional branding

invariably gloss over the potential risks associated with this

strategy. Through a detailed examination of the case of Star-

bucks's emerging doppelgänger brand imagery, we have

attempted to address this important issue. In this section, we

take a step back from the details of this case and develop a

set of initial recommendations that could help brand man-

agers diagnosis pending threats to their emotional-branding

investments.

History has shown that dominant brands routinely fall

from their stellar heights and struggle to regain their former

glory. Disney, McDonald's, AT&T, Levi's, Kodak, and

Coca-Cola are just a few examples of market-driven brands

that rather suddenly went from paragons of marketing

excellence to besieged icons losing ground to competitors

(Haig 2003; Holt 2002; Stewart 2002). However, the con-

ventional brand management literature offers little concrete

advice on how brand strategists can proactively diagnose

the cultural vulnerabilities that could eventually erode their

customer-based brand equity. Rather, brand image–related

problems are attributed in general to companies failing to

follow the tried-and-true principles of sound brand manage-

ment, such as maintaining consistency and relevance

(Keller 2000, 2003a).

Y et the diagnostic value of these normative branding

principles is actually quite limited. The consistency princi-

ple instructs managers to specify their brand's essence, core

personality, and primary benefit carefully and then commu-

nicate consistent messages about these essential dimen-

sions. The relevance principle instructs managers to update

continuously their brand's user/usage imagery, brand per-

sonalities, types of relationships, and promotional themes to

keep a brand image fresh, energized, and contemporary

(Aaker 2004; Keller 2003a). The somewhat contradictory

nature of these two normative principles leaves little doubt

that brand managers must undertake a very delicate balanc-

ing act. However, these principles beg the important ques-

tion, How can this balance be effectively attained? To

redress this gap, we propose a three-step action plan that

can help marketers protect their emotional-branding

investments.

Monitor Cultural Cues

First, brand managers should closely monitor popular cul-

ture for signs that their brand is beginning to develop a dop-

pelgänger brand image. Here, the critical issue is not how

many people embrace these unflattering brand meanings or

if they pose an immediate threat to the brand. Indeed, a

best-case scenario would be to catch these meanings during

their underground phase, analogous to the way that "cool

hunters" attempt to discover nascent consumer trends

(Gladwell 2000). The relevant concerns at this stage are

which aspects of the emotional-branding story are being

subverted and what alternative symbolic brand meanings

are being created. For example, our analysis of Starbucks

suggests that its mass-market ubiquity has undercut an

essential component of its emotional-branding story,

namely, its ability to act as an authenticating symbol of hip

consumerism (see Frank 1997). These cues suggest that

Starbucks should consider developing a new emotional-

branding story that reframes its corporate connotations in

ways that function as a symbolic asset rather than as a

source of inauthenticity.

The same medium that facilitates the rapid cultural dif-

fusion of a doppelgänger brand image (i.e., the Internet) can

also facilitate the task of cultural monitoring. For example,

brand managers should routinely monitor consumer chat

rooms, blogs, and Web-based media to gauge the cultural

buzz surrounding their marketing campaigns. A more

sophisticated approach would be to use systematic netnog-

raphy techniques (see Kozinets 2002) to assess when an

emotional-branding story is beginning to inspire parodies,

critics, and other signs of a cultural backlash and to analyze

the cultural content of these cultural-jamming efforts. Brand

managers should be sensitive to both the frequency and

level of intensity of these antibrand sentiments and the spe-

cific aspects of their emotional-branding story that are

being subverted (and the adversarial meanings that result).

Identify and Track Brand Avoiders

Second, brand managers should identify and study people

for whom these doppelgänger meanings resonate and moti-

vate various kinds of brand avoidance. Blogs and antibrand

62 / Journal of Marketing, January 2006

W eb sites may be a useful starting point for locating these

people. In addition, customer relationship management sys-

tems could be used to identify lapsed customers, who may

turn out to be intentionally avoiding a brand because of its

doppelgänger imagery. By studying these consumers' view-

points (we recommend using qualitative methods, such as

depth interviews, laddering, ZMET-type collage studies, or

even focus groups), managers can assess which doppel-

gänger brand meanings are resonating with consumers and

plumb the identity benefits they gain from this negative

imagery.

This second step is a necessary complement to the

broader monitoring of cultural cues we outlined in the first

step. The ideological concerns that inspire antibrand

activists to create and circulate a doppelgänger brand image

(and that tend to dominate those representations) may not

be that relevant to consumers or that central to their brand

avoidance motivations. In the case of Starbucks, for exam-

ple, antibrand activists widely accuse Starbucks of engaging

in a host of predatory business practices. Although the con-

sumers in our study made passing reference to these

charges, their primary motivations for avoiding the brand

ensued from their perceptions that Starbucks's commercial-

ized servicescape lacked cultural distinctiveness and an

authentic personal touch. Thus, brand management deci-

sions based only on an analysis of cultural cues could lead

managers to erroneous conclusions about the doppelgänger

meanings that pose the greatest threat to their emotional-

branding strategies.

Develop and Test a New Emotional-Branding

Story

Third, to manage the challenges posed by the emergence of

a doppelgänger brand image, we advocate a decidedly

proactive approach. Specifically, we believe that brand

managers should make adaptations to their emotional-

branding story before it goes stale and precipitates a full-

blown branding crisis. This proactive orientation carries an

unnerving implication: Managers should begin modifying

their emotional-branding strategy while it is still accom-

plishing its marketing objectives. In a dynamic and rapidly

changing marketing environment, we believe that it is much

better to stay ahead of the cultural curve than to fall behind

it and suddenly need to play catch-up with competitors that

have more resonant emotional-branding stories.

When confronted by an emotional-branding strategy

that is showing blatant signs of diminished marketplace

appeal, managers can easily fall into a crisis management

panic mode as they grapple with declining sales and lost

share. Under such conditions, they may be tempted to dele-

gate much of the strategy-creation process to outside brand-

ing consultants in the quest for quick, magic-bullet solu-

tions (Haig 2003). However, this crisis mode can also lead

to arbitrary and abrupt shifts in an emotional-branding story

that often compound the problem (Keller 2000). For exam-

ple, if a brand has lost its cultural claim to authenticity, a

dramatic shift in the symbolic terms of its emotional-

branding strategy could easily be interpreted as further evi-

dence that the brand has no authentic identity other than

that dictated by the whims of fashionability.

Accordingly, we suggest that a successful brand image

revitalization strategy must fit with prevailing cultural con-

ditions while displaying a clear and comprehensible con-

nection to the emotional-branding story through which the

brand made its cultural mark. Because of the amount of cor-

porate transparency now available on the Internet,

emotional-branding stories that lack this kind of historical

continuity are likely to be perceived as inauthentic (see Holt

2004). A cultural analysis of a doppelgänger brand image

can offer valuable insights into how a resonant new

emotional-branding story can be culled from the narrative

threads of an existing one in a way that maintains this vital

sense of historical continuity.

By engaging in the cultural monitoring and brand

avoider tracking we discussed previously, brand managers

(and their creative consultants) should have a wealth of

insights (both cultural and individual) to develop a set of

alternative emotional stories that can be tested among con-

sumers. Although most consumers are not particularly good

at generating new campaign ideas, particularly ones that tap

into emerging cultural trends (see Gladwell 2005; Holt

2003; Zaltman 2003), they are quite astute at assessing the

relative degree of emotional connection they experience

with different story lines. Again, we recommend the use of

qualitative methods, especially rich projective techniques

(e.g., Z-MET; Zaltman 2003), as a means to evaluate the

emotional resonance (and authenticity value) of alternative

story lines. These qualitative insights could also be used to

develop quantitative measures of emotional resonance and

perceived authenticity (see, e.g., Grayson and Martinec

2004). Furthermore, this approach offers a means to

develop a culturally based brand-shielding strategy (see

Park, Jaworski, and MacInnis 1986), designed to insulate a

brand's symbolic value (e.g., its perceived authenticity)

from the devaluation among core customers that can arise

when a brand attains broader market appeal.

The implementation of these three steps requires a thor-

ough understanding of a brand's history as well as the cul-

tural meanings and identity projects most salient to its core

customers. This type of knowledge is difficult to codify and

emerges through a process akin to dynamic puzzle solving.

In this puzzle-solving activity, brand strategists must iden-

tify a gestalt fit among the target customers' cultural worlds,

the properties of the brand, and a credible emotional-

branding story that links consumers to the brand. Unlike a

conventional puzzle, however, the emotional-branding

conundrum keeps changing, and accordingly, emotional-

branding strategies must be periodically revised and trans-

formed. In this sense, our proposed guidelines align with

Dickson's (1992) competitive rationality thesis that market-

ing success is dependent on constant monitoring of the

dynamic competitive environment and the continual genera-

tion of innovative adaptations to these changes.

Conclusions and Future Directions

In this research, we attempted to demonstrate that (1)

emotional-branding strategies may unintentionally foster

the cultural development of a doppelgänger brand image

and (2) careful analysis of this imagery can provide insights

Emotional Branding and the Doppelgänger Brand Image / 63

into latent branding problems that might not be detected by

conventional branding strategy prescriptions. Although we

believe that our analysis of Starbucks's emerging doppel-

gänger imagery provides support for our thesis, we also

acknowledge that our research is limited by important

boundary conditions and that these conditions represent

potential research opportunities.

Our analysis suggests that consumers avoid brands

when their emotional-branding promises are viewed as

inauthentic and, conversely, that emotional-branding strate-

gies succeed when they can function as an authenticating

narrative for consumers' identity projects. These ideas are

congruent with research indicating that consumers' most

valued brands are those whose symbolic meanings play an

important role in their self-conceptions (Fournier 1998;

Holt 2002) and with findings that consumers can be unfor-

giving when trusted brands seem to violate their emotional-

branding promises (Aaker, Fournier, and Brasel 2004).

However, a lack of perceived authenticity may not be a

major stumbling block for brands that do not seek competi-

tive advantage through emotional branding. In addition,

brands that lack iconic status (i.e., market challengers or

followers) may be less susceptible to attacks on their

authenticity because such brands may fly under the radar of

antibrand activists. Thus, further research that considers a

broader spectrum of brands, consumers, and contexts is

necessary to evaluate the robustness of our theory and

findings.

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sity Press.

... The mermaid is symbolic of those individuals who share her otherness and seek to find a place where they can be and flourish. She stands as a marker of that which is familiar, comfortable, accessible, and predictable and she is part of consumers' routine or ritual (Thompson, Rindfleisch, and Arsel, 2006). The early days of the company were spent helping consumers make the link between Starbucks and its symbols, of which the logo is just one (others include the white cup, unique coffee lingo, signature drinks, communal spaces, etc.) (Luffarelli, Mukesh, and Mahood, 2019). ...

... The anti--Starbucks movement pushes back against the corporatisation of the marketplace and decries the cookie--cutter penetration of brands like Starbucks in terms of erasing a community's unique character or identity. Thompson, Rindfleisch, and Arsel (2006) examine anti-- Starbucks sentiment in general and how this movement has co--opted the mermaid as a symbol of corporate greed, inauthenticity, sterility, exploitation, and lack of originality. The examples of parodic logos in Figure 10 express these sentiments. ...

... Shima Volume 15 Number 2 2021 --146 -- Figure 10 --Some of the logos from the anti--Starbucks movement (Thompson, Rindfleisch, and Arsel, 2006). Figure 11 --Mermaid protesting against Chicken of the Sea (Greenpeace USA, 2015). ...

• Susan Graham

Companies invest considerable resources into establishing meaningful and impactful brand identities, through which they build essential relationships with consumers. Several well-known consumer brands use mermaids as part of their brand identity. Perhaps no use of mermaids in branding is more ubiquitous than siren emblazoned on every Starbucks coffee cup. But Starbucks is not alone; other consumer brands, such as Chicken of the Sea, Virgin Voyages Cruise Line, and BonV!v Spiked Seltzer, incorporate mermaids as part of their brand architecture. Using the case method, this study will examine, brand by brand, the history, meaning, and impact of mermaids on particular brand identities and, thus, on the consumer relationships. This study considers the brand strategies of using mermaids and reflects on if and why these strategies have worked for the brands included in this study.

... With the growing homogenization of marketplaces, consumers are afraid of losing traditional sources of meaning and identity, which results in cynicism toward and avoidance of market-constructed meanings (Lehman et al., 2019;Thompson et al., 2006). Consequently, firms need to identify new and meaningful paths to reach their customers. ...

... Moreover, the marketing literature has primarily adopted a supply-side perspective when studying authenticity, evaluating elements that make brands authentic (see Appendix 45). To date, little is known about the demand side-that is, consumers' "search" (e.g., Thompson et al., 2006) or "quest" (e.g., Beverland & Farrelly, 2010;Leigh et al., 2006;Nunes et al., 2021) for authentic market offerings. Without a thorough understanding of the construct Lisa Scheer served as Area Editor for this article. ...

... Brand authenticity is frequently viewed as a desirable brand aspect that increases consumers' overall evaluation of the brand (Napoli et al., 2014), which is positively related to higher levels of willingness to pay (Moulard et al., 2015a(Moulard et al., , 2015b. As authenticityseeking consumers place greater emphasis on the search for and consumption of authentic objects in their daily lives (Morhart et al., 2015;Thompson et al., 2006), they should also be willing to pay a higher price for authentic brands. Hence, the positive relationship between brand authenticity and consumers' willingness to pay a price premium is likely to be enforced for authenticity seeking consumers. ...

• Fabian Bartsch
• KP Zeugner-Roth
• Constantine S. Katsikeas

The concept of authenticity is gaining interest in research and managerial practice. While the focus has been on the supply side, investigating factors that make brands authentic, the demand side, or consumers' search for authentic market offerings, has been neglected. Informed by the literature, this article develops a psychometrically sound and cross-nationally and temporally stable scale to measure consumer authenticity seeking (CAS) as a set of three dimensions: personal, true, and iconic authenticity seeking. Using a comprehensive theory-based nomological network, this research introduces CAS as an important moderator between brand authenticity and outcomes. It also examines consumers' intrinsic and extrinsic motives that drive these effects. Finally, this research reveals different consumer profiles managers can use for targeting and segmentation purposes.

... Brands that become too popular (Bryson et al., 2013) or mainstream may thus be perceived as becoming diluted in the symbolic meaning represented by the brand (Charmley et al., 2013), thereby increasing the risk of brand inauthenticity (Lee et al., 2009a(Lee et al., , 2009b. Since inauthenticity can cause loyal consumers to rebel and engage in negative behaviour such as anti-brand activism (Thompson and Arsel, 2004) or brand avoidance (Charmley et al., 2013;Lee et al., 2009aLee et al., , 2009bThompson et al., 2006), brands should be managed in such a way that it continuously gravitates away from undesired symbolic associations and closer to consumers' desired symbolic meanings (Bosnjak and Rudolph, 2008;Thompson et al., 2006). It can accordingly be hypothesised that: H 1 Identity avoidance is a positive predictor of brand avoidance. ...

... Brands that become too popular (Bryson et al., 2013) or mainstream may thus be perceived as becoming diluted in the symbolic meaning represented by the brand (Charmley et al., 2013), thereby increasing the risk of brand inauthenticity (Lee et al., 2009a(Lee et al., , 2009b. Since inauthenticity can cause loyal consumers to rebel and engage in negative behaviour such as anti-brand activism (Thompson and Arsel, 2004) or brand avoidance (Charmley et al., 2013;Lee et al., 2009aLee et al., , 2009bThompson et al., 2006), brands should be managed in such a way that it continuously gravitates away from undesired symbolic associations and closer to consumers' desired symbolic meanings (Bosnjak and Rudolph, 2008;Thompson et al., 2006). It can accordingly be hypothesised that: H 1 Identity avoidance is a positive predictor of brand avoidance. ...

... Since identity avoidance was found to be the most important predictor of service brand avoidance, marketers should, through marketing research, identify the best match between their brand's image to that of their target market. By doing so, marketers may be more successful by positioning their services closer to consumers' desired self-images (Bosnjak and Rudolph, 2008;Thompson et al., 2006). Furthermore, by positioning their brands as authentic (Beverland, 2006;Napoli et al., 2014), marketers stand a greater chance that customers would not avoid their brands. ...

... Such positive effects can be diluted if consumers only associate positive attributes with a few new products from the portfolio, while the remainder is not perceived to be innovative at all. The existence of less innovative products in the portfolio may detract from consumers' perception of a brand's innovation authenticity and credibility, and may lead to inferior brand association and awareness [68]. Such differences in a portfolio's innovativeness make it challenging to assess the signal a firm is sending with its portfolio innovativeness. ...

Portfolio innovativeness has been indicated as a crucial aspect of a firm's innovation efforts. However, research traditionally applies a firm-centric conceptualization of portfolio innova-tiveness, neglecting its signaling effect to consumers. Taking a different route, this study ap-plies a consumer-centric approach to investigate consumer perceptions of portfolio innovative-ness as an antecedent of their brand perceptions. We incorporate inconsistent insights on port-folio innovativeness by introducing a novel construct: portfolio innovativeness variety. It de-scribes the degree of novelty concerning different new products and services in a firm's inno-vation portfolio. Drawing on signaling theory, the results of 691 completed questionnaires show that consumers' perceived portfolio innovativeness increases consumer-based brand eq-uity. However, portfolio innovativeness variety moderates this relationship negatively. This study explores an inverted U-shaped relationship between portfolio innovativeness variety and brand equity. These insights suggest that large portfolio innovativeness variety confuses con-sumers about a brand's offerings and that portfolio management should incorporate these in-sights in order to offer a balanced and value-maximized innovation portfolio. This research offers novel insights into an unexplored aspect of portfolio innovativeness with complemen-tary research on innovation portfolios from a consumer perspective.

... There are a large number of studies that probe into positive approaches of consumers such as brand love, brand loyalty, brand admiration while addressing relations with brands (Carroll and Ahuvia, 2006;Bagozzi et al., 2017;Iglesias et al., 2011;Huang, 2017;Nguyen et al., 2013;Batra et al., 2012). On the other hand, research on negative brand relationships mostly focus on anti-consumption actions (Banister and Hogg 2004;Englis and Soloman 1997;Hogg and Banister 2001;Kozinets 2002;Kozinets and Handelman 2004;Thompson et al. 2006;Zavestoski 2002). Limited studies are available on brand avoidance, a specific type of anti-consumption actions, in the Turkish literature. ...

• Bulut Dülek

Marka tüketici ilişkilerinin önem kazandığı pazar ortamlarında tüketicilerin markaya bağlılık sebeplerinin analiz edilmesi kadar tüketicilerin markadan kaçınma eğilimlerinin de analiz edilmesinin gerekli olduğunu düşünüyoruz. Bu çalışmada GSM operatörü kullanıcısı tüketicilerin marka kaçınma davranışları demografik değişkenler açısından ele alınmıştır. Çalışma da marka kaçınmasının deneyimsel kaçınma, kimlik kaçınması, ahlaki kaçınma ve eksik değer kaçınması boyutlarının tüketicilerin cinsiyet, medeni durum, yaş, eğitim düzeyi ve gelir durumlarına göre farklılık gösterip göstermediği analiz edilmiştir. Araştırma anket yöntemi kullanılarak ulaşılan 655 GSM operatörü kullanıcısı ile Van ilinde yapılmıştır. Yapılan analizler sonucunda tüketicilerin marka kaçınması davranışlarının medeni durum, eğitim düzeyi ve gelir seviyesi değişkenlerine göre farklılaşma gösterdiği görülmüştür. A B S T R A C T We think that in market environments where brand-consumer relations gain importance, it is necessary to analyze consumers' brand avoidance tendencies as well as the reasons for brand loyalty. In this study, the brand avoidance behaviors of consumers using GSM operators are discussed in terms of demographic variables. In the study, the dimensions of brand avoidance (experiental avoidance, identity avoidance, moral avoidance, deficit-value avoidance) and the variables of gender, marital status, age, education level and income status were analyzed. The research was carried in the province of Van with 655 GSM operator user participants reached by using the survey method. As a result of the analysis, it was seen that the consumers' brand avoidance behaviors differed according to marital status, education level and income level variables.

• Ranjeet Verma

The starting point of any brand building exercise is creating a brand name for the product. Ideally, brand name should be unique, easily identifiable, one that matches the traits of the product and so on. Brand managers have number of strategies at their disposal to arrive at a particular brand name. Prominent amongst these are: individual brand name strategy, corporate brand name strategy, combination of the two and selecting the brand name keeping in mind any specific person idol etc. This paper highlights the various brand names creation strategies which are being generally employed by the selected passenger car majors in the study.

• Maiara Regina Kososki
• Paulo Henrique Prado

O artigo tem o intuito de penetrar no mundo da Autenticidade, que antecede a época de Cicero e, portanto, desenvolver as dimensões críticas de autenticidade de marca baseada nas escalas de Bruhn et al. (2012) e Napoli et al. (2013). Para isso, o Modelo de Churchill (1979) foi utilizado como balizador do método por meio de fases qualitativas e quantitativas e coletas de dados no Brasil e nos Estados Unidos. Como resultado tem-se 9 dimensões formadoras, com características distintas para diferentes categorias de produtos. A autenticidade da marca é um conceito multifacetado em torno das dimensões que a compõem. Na era da experiência em que os consumidores têm muitas escolhas e menos fé nos produtos que consomem, a autenticidade pode existir para suavizar esta falta de verdade nas ofertas. Além disso, os consumidores conhecem seus produtos, mais do que nunca, por meio do fácil acesso a informações de quase tudo o que eles querem. Em tal contexto, como uma marca pode ser verdadeira? A fim de discutir possíveis respostas a esta questão e encontrar uma compreensão mais profunda sobre o mundo da autenticidade, este artigo foi desenvolvido.

The active presence of fashion brands online serves as a channel for customers to connect with brands for different intentions. This connection acts as an outlet customers employ in furthering social identity through brand associations. Brand perceptions are accordingly formed among consumers based on the promised functional and symbolic benefits consumption of that brand guarantees. Social media has assumed an integral role in fostering brand-customer relationships that ultimately augment social identity. The following chapter examines the role social media has played on brand perceptions in the fashion apparel and accessories industry from a social identity theory perspective. The chapter focuses on theoretical implications and managerial implications. The concluding section offers some significant roles that social media and social identity may play in keeping up with the design and development of marketing communications programs.

• C. Whan Park
• Bernard J. Jaworski
• Deborah J. Macinnis

Conveying a brand image to a target market is a fundamental marketing activity. The authors present a normative framework, termed brand concept management (BCM), for selecting, implementing, and controlling a brand image over time. The framework consists of a sequential process of selecting, introducing, elaborating, and fortifying a brand concept. The concept guides positioning strategies, and hence the brand image, at each of these stages. The method for maintaining this concept-image linkage depends on whether the brand concept is functional, symbolic, or experiential. Maintaining this linkage should significantly enhance the brand's market performance.

• Craig J. Thompson

The author describes and illustrates a hermeneutically grounded interpretive framework for deriving marketing-relevant insights from the "texts" of consumer stories and gives an overview of the philosophical and theoretical foundations of this approach. Next, the author describes a hermeneutic framework for interpreting the stories consumers tell about their experiences of products, services, brand images, and shopping. An illustrative analysis demonstrates how this framework can be applied to generate three levels of interpretation: (1) discerning the key patterns of meanings expressed by a given consumer in the texts of his or her consumption stories, (2) identifying key patterns of meaning that emerge across the consumption stories expressed by different consumers, and (3) deriving broader conceptual and managerial implications from the analysis of consumer narratives. This hermeneutic approach is compared and contrasted to the means—end chains laddering framework, the "voice of the customer" approach to identifying consumer needs, and market-oriented ethnography. The author concludes with a discussion that highlights the types of marketing insights that can result from a hermeneutic interpretation of consumers' consumption stories and then addresses the roles creativity and expertise play in this research orientation.

The authors describe commercial friendships that develop between service providers and clients as one important type of marketing relationship. They report results of five studies that employ quantitative and qualitative data analysis. They develop a measure of commercial friendship, identify important correlates, and illustrate how friendships form. Context and tension between instrumental and expressive goals circumscribe commercial friendships, but friendships are associated with satisfaction, strong service loyalty, and positive word of mouth. Qualitative data illustrate varied temporal ordering among satisfaction, loyalty, and friendship for both service providers and clients. The authors identify implications of their findings for an array of industries in which commercial friendships may form.

• Peter Reid Dickson

The author develops a theory of competitive rationality that proposes a firm's success depends on the imperfect procedural rationality of its marketing planners. Theories of economic psychology and information economics are integrated with the Austrian economic school of thought and with marketing management concepts and scholarship. Implications for managers and scholars are discussed.

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Source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247837161_Emotional_Branding_and_the_Strategic_Value_of_the_Doppelganger_Brand_Image

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