Identifying Factors Affecting Brand Embarrassment

Research in consumer behavior has more focused on positive attitudes about brands, while the assessment of negative feelings about brands has been ignored or merely confined to concepts such as dissatisfaction. Therefore, regarding the theoretical vacuum in the field of brand embarrassment, the purpose of this study is to identify the factors affecting brand embarrassment.

The required data in this study was gathered through conducting semi-structured interviews with 12 marketing experts and consumers who experienced embarrassment. The applied sampling technique was snowball sampling, observing the saturation rule. The obtained data were analyzed by content analysis method using MAXQDA software.

According to the codes obtained from the interviews, ultimately 30 final codes and 7concepts were obtained. They were classified into 4 main categories affecting brand embarrassment.

The obtained results indicated that the main categories affecting brand embarrassment include: a) factors related to consumers such as their characteristics, social status, and mental images; b) marketing mixes such as products’ characteristics, prices, location (distribution), and promotions provided by the company; c) performing imitative acts, non-compliance to laws and regulations, and ignoring social responsibilities by some brands, which can be considered as factors related to the company; and d) factors related to society including the impact of family, peer groups, culture and economic status of the society.