When Your Outrage Is Not Mine: Consumer Responses to Expressions of Online Outrage towards Brands

In the digital age, it is common for consumers to encounter expressions of moral condemnation towards brands and their marketing activities. These expressions of moral disapproval tend to have emotional overtones of outrage. Public expressions of outrage can serve to alert bystanders towards the presence of a norm violations and encourage others to also condemn the triggering event. Thus, outrage can serve as a tool for social influence. However, moral values can be held with deep conviction and consumers oftentimes encounter outrage that conflicts with personal values. In the present work, I explore situational factors in which outrage towards a brand can fail to influence observing-consumers to appraise the target brand negatively. Across eight studies (N = 2277), we address two questions: 1) How do consumers respond to outrage expressed towards a brand’s social value marketing campaign? 2) Is outrage effective in persuading observing-consumers to respond negatively towards potentially offensive advertisements? In examining the first research question, participants were presented social marketing campaigns with accompanying expressions of disapproval towards these campaigns that varied in terms of outrage. Across five studies, our findings suggest that outrage towards social value marketing campaigns can increase brand support among consumers who share the brand’s values. We find that this is because outrage (versus disapproval alone) is more threatening to those values. In examining the second research question, participants were presented potentially offensive advertisements with accompanying expressions of disapproval towards these advertisements that varied in terms of outrage. Across three studies, we provide evidence that the propensity of outrage in persuading observing-consumers to respond negatively towards potentially offensive advertisements is contingent on the severity of the ad’s norm violation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that expressions of disapproval without outrage can be more effective in persuading observers to evaluate brand’s negatively when the ad’s norm violation is perceived to be mild (versus more severe). This is because outrage in these instances can be perceived to be inappropriate reactions. Taken together, these findings suggest that outrage towards brands does not necessarily lead to negative brand consequences.