Can brands escape the hate? A keyword analysis

Brand hate (BH) may be defined as a ‘psychological state in which a consumer forms an intense negative emotion and hatred towards a brand, a hatred that reveals itself through anti-branding activities’. This paper seeks to examine the keywords related to the concept of BH and uses keyword co-occurrence analysis, followed by a review of the short history of BH as reported in the relevant marketing literature. The Scopus database was chosen for analysis due to its comprehensive coverage and rigorous indexing principles, and VOSviewer was used to visualise the term ‘Brand Hate’, revealing research trends and patterns. This keyword analysis identifies seven clusters: ‘Emotional and Behavioural Responses’, ‘Brand Relationship Dynamics’, ‘Reactive Consumer Behaviours and Relationship Dynamics’, ‘Digital and Social Media Dynamics’, ‘Psychological and Emotional Triggers’, ‘Impact of Brand Hate on Consumer Behaviour’ and ‘Strategies for Managing and Mitigating Brand Hate’. By presenting a comprehensive and up-to-date keyword analysis of BH, this study will spur scholarly research and serve as a valuable tool for the researchers in advancing the research in BH.