This brand is #cancelled: Exploring brand avoidance in the age of cancel culture and influencer marketing

Cancel culture — a collective disengagement typically expressed on social media — is becoming increasingly common. Its ‘victims’ extend from celebrities to corporate brands. As active participants and opinion leaders, social media influencers can also add flames to the cancellation of brands on social media. Thus, this study is designed to explore the impact of information sources, cognitive reflection, influencer credibility and parasocial relationships with influencers on brand cancellation and brand avoidance. Survey results from 486 participants indicate that when influencers’ impact is not factored into the research model, cognitive reflection is not a significant mediator between information sources and cancelling behaviours towards brands, and cancelling behaviour is a negative predictor of brand avoidance. When the impact of influencers is included in the research model, however, the mediation role of cognitive reflection becomes significant, and cancelling behaviours are not significant contributors to brand avoidance. Instead, perceived influencer credibility significantly predicts cancelling behaviours and brand avoidance. The study concludes with a discussion of the practical implications of crisis communication in the context of cancel culture and influencer marketing.