Shame is a Brand-Eating Emotion: Negative Effects of Consumer-Brand Identification in the Aftermaths of Brand Failures

Brands are essential components of consumers’ identity. Consumers regard beloved brands as extensions of their self-concepts. In case of a brand failure, however, this oneness is challenged: Dissatisfied consumers may feel betrayed, which ultimately triggers anger and revenge. This effect is strongly associated to brand anger. The purpose of our research is to add an inward-oriented emotional perspective by introducing brand shame to further explain the interrelationship between dissatisfaction, brand anger, and consumer-brand identification (CBI). In line with our conceptual model, the empirical results show that brand shame mediates the relationship between dissatisfaction and brand anger. Notably, brand shame has a positive impact on brand anger. Most importantly, CBI moderates spillover-effects of customer dissatisfaction on subsequent negative emotions.