Abstract Background <img src="file:///page3image5064" /> <img src="file:///page3image5488" /> <img src="file:///page3image5648" /> <img src="file:///page3image5808" /> <img src="file:///page3image6232" /> <img src="file:///page3image6392" /> Branding is a significant asset for a company, and can provide a firm with sole association and a special meaning for the consumer. Consumer research generally stresses the idea of positive consumption of brands and a gap in the consumer behaviour studies regarding brand avoidance can be exemplified. Subsequently, brand avoidance has recently received more attention, as the importance to identify what brands consumers deliberately avoid is as valuable to recognize. In order to get a more comprehensive image of the market, the relevance to examine the drivers of service brand avoidance has been identified. Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the drivers of why people deliberately avoid certain service brands. Based upon the purpose, three questions have been framed: What are the drivers of brand avoidance in the service industry? How can the drivers identified connect to previous research, primarily made by Lee et al. (2009b) and later revised by Knittel et al. (2016)? Is it possible to draw conclusions regarding all services? Method The thesis is mainly exploratory in its nature due to the insights that is required in order to investigate people’s behaviour. The data has been collected through 16 semi- structured interviews where participants have shared their stories connected to service brand avoidance. The data has then been interpreted and in most cases been connected to previous literature. Conclusion Most consumers avoid several types of service brands, both deliberately and unconsciously. The findings from interviews have been connected to previous literature, but also some new conclusions have been made regarding the service industry. Five categories with sub-themes have been identified and linked to earlier studies by Lee et al. (2009b) and Knittel et al. (2016); experiential, identity, moral, deficit-value, and marketing avoidance. The findings show a deeper knowledge of brand avoidance but solely in the service industry.

Background: Interest in brand avoidance, which is a form of anti-consumption behaviour is growing among scholars, marketers and consumers. The extant literature has focused on the positive attitude consumers have towards brands, failing to account for reasons underlying brand avoidance. Consumers purchase brands and construct their identities through brands that represent positive benefits (Lee et al., 2009a) and avoid brands that add undesired meaning to their lives. Purpose: Social media platforms facilitate the exchange of information among users, and companies use social media platforms as part of their marketing strategy to communicate their brand personality, engage consumers and build long term relationships with them (Ramadan, 2017), yet consumers are deliberately avoiding social media platforms. Five reasons for brand avoidance have so far been identified, but brand avoidance literature has not yet explored a specific social media platform. Leading social media platforms like Facebook are frequently used by consumers to generate content and to engage in social interaction. Consumers’ intention to use Facebook is demonstrated by regular visits to the platform and the time spent on the platform. However, some consumers express dissatisfaction with Facebook and deliberately choose to avoid Facebook. Hence, the purpose of this research is to look into the role of Facebook as an online service provider and explore the reasons behind the decisions to abandon Facebook. Method: The interpretivist paradigm is adopted since brand avoidance in this case concerns the negative relationship between consumers and brands within a social context. Due to the limited literature in brand avoidance this thesis employs an exploratory research design together with a qualitative and abductive approach. In the data collection method, the snowballing sampling technique is used, and this resulted in a sample that includes respondents from diverse geographical backgrounds. The abductive approach is used in coding, analysing and developing the extended brand avoidance model from the 15 semi-structured interviews that were conducted. Conclusion: The findings of this study show that several social media factors can lead to brand avoidance within the social media context. This resulted in an extended brand avoidance model that excludes advertising since Facebook does not advertise. In place of advertising, a new category named social media specific factors is developed. The five components identified were privacy, security, confidentiality, information overload and social overload. The revised framework not only provides insights in the management of brand avoidance, but also adds knowledge into the growing field of brands avoidance for academics and marketing managers by providing new information of an underexplored domain of brand avoidance within the field of social media service.

Brand avoidance is a new topic in consumer behavior research. The purpose of the study was to find the main driver(s) of the brand avoidance behavior among the Chinese mobile consumers. The study was based on the core framework of Lee, et al. (2009) and Knittel et al (2016). The study also applied Ma’s research (2012) to segment the Chinese mobile consumers. A survey was conducted based on the literatures. The findings show that Chinese mobile consumers do not share the same driver for the brand avoidance behavior, the main driver for fashion-taste consumers, trendy but cost-efficient consumers and conservative consumers is moral and identity avoidance. Rational and price-sensitive consumers avoid the brand because of the moral and identity avoidance, and the experiential avoidance for product. Business communication consumers avoid the brand because of the moral and identity avoidance and advertising avoidance. Organizations can use these findings to adjust their marketing strategies and content accordingly.

Background - Supply is nowadays higher than the demand, making it possible for consumers to pick, choose and purchase brands that responds to their individual identity. Due to the numerous offerings available, consumers have started to become resistant and they are now withstanding the influence of brands marketing activities. The concept of brand avoidance is one type of personal anti-consumption behaviour which deals with understanding why consumers actively avoid purchasing a specific brand, although the consumer has the financial and physical abilities to do so. Purpose - People are deliberately avoiding brands due to their marketing communication, but the existing research of the underlying reasons are limited and unexplored. Knittel, Beurer and Berndt (2016) previously added advertising as a fifth reason for brand avoidance, though it is not clear whether there are further factors or reasons that affects brand avoidance. By using the elements in the IMC promotional mix as a base, all communication activities a brand is using are included, which makes the study more comprehensive. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and gain a broader understanding of why consumers deliberately chose to avoid certain brands because of their marketing communication efforts. Method - To fulfil the purpose of the study, an exploratory research design with a qualitative and abductive approach was applied. In the data collection method, focus groups were used and complemented by semi-structured interviews. The aim of using such combination of methods is to limit the risks associated with only having one method for collecting data and further to increase the trustworthiness of this qualitative study. The participants in the study are self-supporting people over the age of 20, living in Sweden. Conclusion - The findings of the study resulted in a revised category called IMC avoidance, based on Knittel et al.´s (2016) advertising avoidance. This, since findings showed that there are more communications tools than advertising that influences a brand avoidance behaviour. The IMC avoidance category includes six components: advertising, direct marketing, interactive/internet marketing, sales promotion, publicity/public relations and personal selling. Researchers within the subject area and marketing managers will benefit from this study in the future, as it contributed with findings within in the fields of brand avoidance, marketing communication and consumer behaviour.

Background Until today, branding in positive forms has been widely researched. It has been studied why consumers choose certain brands and how companies can increase brand loyalty. On the other hand, literature lacks studies on negative branding, which now becomes more interesting to gain more knowledge about. One knows that it is of equal importance to investigate why people would avoid a brand as what makes them purchase a brand. Hence, the topic of anti-consumption and in particular brand avoidance is something that demands more research. Purpose In 2016 Knittel, Beurer and Berndt conducted a research on brand avoidance on products and came to the conclusion that advertising is an additional factor affecting brand avoidance. However, brand avoidance has not yet been researched on a specific industry. Today’s sports industry spends a tremendous amount of money on advertising, thus it is of great interest to investigate how advertising can have a negative effect on the sports companies. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate and gain deeper understanding of what components of advertising affect brand avoidance within the sportswear industry.   Method This thesis was best researched by an exploratory study using a qualitative and abductive approach. Interviews and focus groups have been used as data collection methods. The interviews were held with different companies within the sportswear industry and provided data to create focus groups from as well as first visions on crucial components within advertising. The focus groups provided further understanding on which components that could contribute to brand avoidance due to advertising from a consumer’s perspective.   Conclusion Findings of this thesis show that several components of advertising can lead to brand avoidance within the sportswear industry. The authors conclude the thesis by presenting an extended and revised model of advertising components of brand avoidance, whereas the advertising category is renamed to marketing communication. In total, eight components were identified: content, collaborations, music, channel, trustworthiness, frequency, timing, and response. The revised framework provides new information within brand avoidance for both academics and marketing managers within the sportswear industry.

The purpose of this study was to find the main drivers of brand avoidance behavior among Chinese female's cosmetics consumers. Based on Lee et al. (2009) and Knittel et al. (2016) model to do the research. Research was conducted based on existing literature. The results show that Chinese female consumers have common driving force in brand avoidance behavior, namely political positioning and animal test in moral avoidance. According to the existing theoretical framework, the cultural differences are used to create a brand avoidance model to suit Chinese female consumers.

Brands, and the process of branding, are of considerable importance in both marketing academia and practice. Although most research has focussed on the positive attitudes and behaviours that consumers have toward brands, there is a growing interest in anti-consumption. This thesis contributes to anti-consumption research by exploring the phenomenon of brand avoidance. Earlier studies investigating the avoidance of brands have been one-dimensional, failing to account for the wide range of reasons underlying brand avoidance. Therefore, this thesis addresses the limitations of existing models by providing an integrative and comprehensive approach to understanding brand avoidance. As an anti-consumption phenomenon, brand avoidance concerns the negative interaction between consumers, as social actors, and brands, as meaningful objects, within a social and historical context. Therefore, this thesis adopts an interpretive approach, a social constructionist epistemology, and historical realist ontology. Since research in the immediate area of brand avoidance is limited, this thesis employs a grounded theory methodology to analyse, code, and generate theory from the qualitative data gathered through 23 in-depth interviews. Four main types of brand avoidance (experiential, identity, deficit-value, and moral) and the circumstances in which brand avoidance may be restricted or alleviated (avoidance antidotes) emerge from the data. Existing literatures are used to further inform these findings and an original negative brand promises framework is developed to help increase understanding of the brand avoidance phenomenon. The main components of this research are then integrated into an emergent theoretical model of brand avoidance. This model offers a synopsis of how the various brand avoidance constructs may relate to one another and to other pertinent branding concepts within a consumption system. Combined, the findings of this thesis provide a comprehensive appreciation of why consumers avoid certain brands in addition to potential insights that may be used in the management of brand avoidance. Overall, this thesis contributes knowledge to the growing field of anti-consumption research by providing an innovative overview and an integrative understanding of an under-explored domain, brand avoidance. / Foundation for Research Science and Technology (Project number UOWX0227). The University of Auckland Graduate Research Fund. The Business School Post Graduate Research Grant.

Brands, and the process of branding, are of considerable importance in both marketing academia and practice. Although most research has focussed on the positive attitudes and behaviours that consumers have toward brands, there is a growing interest in anti-consumption. This thesis contributes to anti-consumption research by exploring the phenomenon of brand avoidance. Earlier studies investigating the avoidance of brands have been one-dimensional, failing to account for the wide range of reasons underlying brand avoidance. Therefore, this thesis addresses the limitations of existing models by providing an integrative and comprehensive approach to understanding brand avoidance. As an anti-consumption phenomenon, brand avoidance concerns the negative interaction between consumers, as social actors, and brands, as meaningful objects, within a social and historical context. Therefore, this thesis adopts an interpretive approach, a social constructionist epistemology, and historical realist ontology. Since research in the immediate area of brand avoidance is limited, this thesis employs a grounded theory methodology to analyse, code, and generate theory from the qualitative data gathered through 23 in-depth interviews. Four main types of brand avoidance (experiential, identity, deficit-value, and moral) and the circumstances in which brand avoidance may be restricted or alleviated (avoidance antidotes) emerge from the data. Existing literatures are used to further inform these findings and an original negative brand promises framework is developed to help increase understanding of the brand avoidance phenomenon. The main components of this research are then integrated into an emergent theoretical model of brand avoidance. This model offers a synopsis of how the various brand avoidance constructs may relate to one another and to other pertinent branding concepts within a consumption system. Combined, the findings of this thesis provide a comprehensive appreciation of why consumers avoid certain brands in addition to potential insights that may be used in the management of brand avoidance. Overall, this thesis contributes knowledge to the growing field of anti-consumption research by providing an innovative overview and an integrative understanding of an under-explored domain, brand avoidance. / Foundation for Research Science and Technology (Project number UOWX0227). The University of Auckland Graduate Research Fund. The Business School Post Graduate Research Grant.

Brands, and the process of branding, are of considerable importance in both marketing academia and practice. Although most research has focussed on the positive attitudes and behaviours that consumers have toward brands, there is a growing interest in anti-consumption. This thesis contributes to anti-consumption research by exploring the phenomenon of brand avoidance. Earlier studies investigating the avoidance of brands have been one-dimensional, failing to account for the wide range of reasons underlying brand avoidance. Therefore, this thesis addresses the limitations of existing models by providing an integrative and comprehensive approach to understanding brand avoidance. As an anti-consumption phenomenon, brand avoidance concerns the negative interaction between consumers, as social actors, and brands, as meaningful objects, within a social and historical context. Therefore, this thesis adopts an interpretive approach, a social constructionist epistemology, and historical realist ontology. Since research in the immediate area of brand avoidance is limited, this thesis employs a grounded theory methodology to analyse, code, and generate theory from the qualitative data gathered through 23 in-depth interviews. Four main types of brand avoidance (experiential, identity, deficit-value, and moral) and the circumstances in which brand avoidance may be restricted or alleviated (avoidance antidotes) emerge from the data. Existing literatures are used to further inform these findings and an original negative brand promises framework is developed to help increase understanding of the brand avoidance phenomenon. The main components of this research are then integrated into an emergent theoretical model of brand avoidance. This model offers a synopsis of how the various brand avoidance constructs may relate to one another and to other pertinent branding concepts within a consumption system. Combined, the findings of this thesis provide a comprehensive appreciation of why consumers avoid certain brands in addition to potential insights that may be used in the management of brand avoidance. Overall, this thesis contributes knowledge to the growing field of anti-consumption research by providing an innovative overview and an integrative understanding of an under-explored domain, brand avoidance. / Foundation for Research Science and Technology (Project number UOWX0227). The University of Auckland Graduate Research Fund. The Business School Post Graduate Research Grant.

Brands, and the process of branding, are of considerable importance in both marketing academia and practice. Although most research has focussed on the positive attitudes and behaviours that consumers have toward brands, there is a growing interest in anti-consumption. This thesis contributes to anti-consumption research by exploring the phenomenon of brand avoidance. Earlier studies investigating the avoidance of brands have been one-dimensional, failing to account for the wide range of reasons underlying brand avoidance. Therefore, this thesis addresses the limitations of existing models by providing an integrative and comprehensive approach to understanding brand avoidance. As an anti-consumption phenomenon, brand avoidance concerns the negative interaction between consumers, as social actors, and brands, as meaningful objects, within a social and historical context. Therefore, this thesis adopts an interpretive approach, a social constructionist epistemology, and historical realist ontology. Since research in the immediate area of brand avoidance is limited, this thesis employs a grounded theory methodology to analyse, code, and generate theory from the qualitative data gathered through 23 in-depth interviews. Four main types of brand avoidance (experiential, identity, deficit-value, and moral) and the circumstances in which brand avoidance may be restricted or alleviated (avoidance antidotes) emerge from the data. Existing literatures are used to further inform these findings and an original negative brand promises framework is developed to help increase understanding of the brand avoidance phenomenon. The main components of this research are then integrated into an emergent theoretical model of brand avoidance. This model offers a synopsis of how the various brand avoidance constructs may relate to one another and to other pertinent branding concepts within a consumption system. Combined, the findings of this thesis provide a comprehensive appreciation of why consumers avoid certain brands in addition to potential insights that may be used in the management of brand avoidance. Overall, this thesis contributes knowledge to the growing field of anti-consumption research by providing an innovative overview and an integrative understanding of an under-explored domain, brand avoidance. / Foundation for Research Science and Technology (Project number UOWX0227). The University of Auckland Graduate Research Fund. The Business School Post Graduate Research Grant.