IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormksc/v41y2022i6p1029-1044.html

Frontiers: How Support for Black Lives Matter Impacts Consumer Responses on Social Media

Author

Listed:
  • Yang Wang

    (Marketing, Fox School of Business, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122)

  • Marco Shaojun Qin

    (Marketing, Fox School of Business, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122)

  • Xueming Luo

    (Marketing, Strategy, and Management Information System, Fox School of Business, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122)

  • Yu (Eric) Kou

    (Marketing, Fox School of Business, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122)

Abstract

We scrutinize the direct and moderated impact of brands’ support for Black Lives Matter (BLM) on consumer responses. Our empirical strategy exploits Blackout Tuesday as a natural experiment in which BLM support occurred on Instagram (treated platform) but not on Twitter (control platform) to perform a within-brand crossplatform difference-in-differences (DID) analysis. We also combine econometric models with machine learning techniques to analyze the unstructured data of the social media content. Based on a unique multiindustry, multiyear, and multiplatform data set of 435 major brands and 396,988 social media posts, we find a negative impact of BLM support on consumer responses, such as followers and likes. Furthermore, our analyses uncover a multifaceted set of heterogeneous DID effects across brands. (1) Although lone-wolf BLM support leads to negligible effects, large-scale BLM support from many brands can lead to strong negative effects (i.e., the bandwagon effect). (2) Posting self-promotional content exacerbates the negative effects of BLM support. (3) Historical prosocial posting on social media attenuates the negative effects. (4) Brands with socially oriented missions suffer less from the negative effects. (5) Customers’ political affiliation also matters; the negative effects of BLM support are amplified/attenuated for brands with mostly Republican/Democratic customers. Additionally, (6) slacktivism (showing BLM support in words but without financial donations) can mitigate the negative effects for brands with mostly Republican consumers but amplify the negative effects for brands with mostly Democratic consumers.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang Wang & Marco Shaojun Qin & Xueming Luo & Yu (Eric) Kou, 2022. "Frontiers: How Support for Black Lives Matter Impacts Consumer Responses on Social Media," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(6), pages 1029-1044, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormksc:v:41:y:2022:i:6:p:1029-1044
    DOI: 10.1287/mksc.2022.1372
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2022.1372
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mksc.2022.1372?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sourjo Mukherjee & Niek Althuizen, 2020. "Brand Activism: Does Courting Controversy Help or Hurt a Brand?," Post-Print hal-03095886, HAL.
    2. Irena Hutton & Danling Jiang & Alok Kumar, 2015. "Political Values, Culture, and Corporate Litigation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(12), pages 2905-2925, December.
    3. James J. Cordeiro & Joseph Sarkis, 1997. "Environmental proactivism and firm performance: evidence from security analyst earnings forecasts," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(2), pages 104-114, May.
    4. Mukherjee, Sourjo & Althuizen, Niek, 2020. "Brand activism: Does courting controversy help or hurt a brand?," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 772-788.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pomerance, Justin & Zifla, Ermira, 2025. "Beyond the bottom line: The influence of political ideology on preference for corporate sociopolitical activism," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    2. Louise May Hassan & Miriam McGowan & Edward Shiu, 2025. "They’re not my people: When inclusive marketing backfires," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 563-587, March.
    3. Youngtak M. Kim & Neil T. Bendle & John Hulland & Michael D. Pfarrer, 2024. "Corporate sustainability research in marketing: Mapping progress and broadening our perspective," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 52(5), pages 1495-1512, October.
    4. Wen Wang & Beibei Li, 2025. "Learning Personalized Privacy Preference from Public Data," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 36(2), pages 761-780, June.
    5. Siddharth Sharma & Justin Frake & Jared Watson, 2026. "Symbolic vs. Substantive Support: The Impact of Black Lives Matter on Black-Owned Businesses," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(1), pages 45-62, January.
    6. In-Hye Kang & Amna Kirmani, 2024. "Lying and Cheating the Company: The Positive and Negative Effects of Corporate Activism on Unethical Consumer Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 192(1), pages 39-56, June.
    7. Alagöz, Nazli, 2024. "Promotion and technological change in the music industry," Other publications TiSEM 511ceba0-62a0-4c60-a76c-f, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    8. Yash Babar & Ali Mahdavi Adeli & Gordon Burtch, 2023. "The Effects of Online Social Identity Signals on Retailer Demand," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(12), pages 7335-7346, December.
    9. Kathleen T. Li, 2024. "Frontiers: A Simple Forward Difference-in-Differences Method," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(2), pages 267-279, March.
    10. Young Hou & Christopher Poliquin & Mariko Sakakibara & Marco Testoni, 2025. "Using Smartphone Location Data for Strategy Research," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 10(4), pages 281-299, December.
    11. Spry, Amanda & Lee, Zoe & Makkar, Marian & France, Cassandra, 2026. "Care-based corporate sociopolitical activism: identifying dark sides and envisioning an ethical framework," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    12. Kim, Sumin & He, Hongwei, 2025. "The impact of brand activism on consumer behaviors: Examining the contrasting roles of admiration and anger," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    13. Wang, Yiru & Kuchmaner, Christina A. & Xu, Xun & Xu, Ran, 2026. "Who Gets Heard? Analyzing online restaurant reviews to understand the representation of vulnerable consumers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA).
    14. Federico Mangiò & Giuseppe Pedeliento & Daniela Andreini & Lia Zarantonello, 2024. "How persuasive is woke brand communication on social media? Evidence from a consumer engagement analysis on Facebook," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 31(4), pages 345-381, July.
    15. Lianlian (Dorothy) Jiang & Jinghui (Jove) Hou & Xiao Ma & Paul A. Pavlou, 2025. "Punished for Success? A Natural Experiment of Displaying Clinical Hospital Quality on Review Platforms," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 36(1), pages 285-306, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Catarina Lelis & Elizete A. Kreutz, 2024. "The Realms of Participation in Visual Identity Design," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 27(2), pages 106-119, May.
    2. Zhao, Lin & Givi, Julian & Cui, Annie Peng, 2025. "Recipient-brand value misalignment: How corporate sociopolitical activism reshapes gift giving decisions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    3. Kim, Sumin & He, Hongwei, 2025. "The impact of brand activism on consumer behaviors: Examining the contrasting roles of admiration and anger," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    4. Xie, Scheng & Wei, Haiying, 2025. "Left out, stay out? The impact of social exclusion on consumer engagement in brand activism," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    5. Pedersen, Carsten Lund, 2023. "The paradoxical marketer: Interpretations, illustrations, and implications," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 66(6), pages 765-776.
    6. Kokkoris, Michail D. & Kamleitner, Bernadette, 2026. "Is authenticity rewarded or inauthenticity penalized? Reconsidering the value of brand authenticity," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    7. Saluja, Geetanjali & Chan, Eugene Y., 2025. "Going against the Tide: How Self-Construal Moderates Receptivity towards Popular Brand Activism," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    8. Brandes, Leif & Dölp, Katharina, 2025. "Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) as digital brand extensions: Evidence on financial performance and parent-brand spillovers," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 491-521.
    9. Pimentel, Pedro Chapaval & Didonet, Simone Regina & Rezaee, Amir & Bassi-Suter, Mariana, 2025. "The impacts of Brand Activism on firm value: an emerging market perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    10. Emily-Louise Rogotzki & Christian Rudeloff, 2025. "Natural Born Supporters? The Role of Personality Traits for Stakeholders' Moral Emotions and Behavioural Intentions Towards Activist Corporate Brands in Online Firestorms," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(4), pages 252-267, November.
    11. Walter, Nadine & Föhl, Ulrich & Sander, Frauke & Nies, Angelique, 2024. "Act as you preach! Authentic brand purpose versus “woke washing’s” impact on brand credibility: The moderating role of cause involvement and consumer skepticism," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    12. Hussain, Shahid & Seet, Pi-Shen & Qazi, Asim & Salam, Abdul & Sadeque, Saalem & Shar, Sanaullah, 2025. "Brand loyalty and repurchase intention in the face of opportunistic recalls: The moderating role of perceived dialogical CSR communication," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    13. Theres Rüger & Janek Mücksch & Florian U. Siems, 2025. "Leveraging moral foundations theory in sociopolitical campaigns: an empirical investigation on how brands can persuade university-affiliated consumers with moral reframing," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 32(6), pages 484-509, November.
    14. Barbara Duffek & Andreas B. Eisingerich & Omar Merlo, 2023. "Why so toxic? A framework for exploring customer toxicity," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 13(1), pages 122-143, June.
    15. Louise May Hassan & Miriam McGowan & Edward Shiu, 2025. "They’re not my people: When inclusive marketing backfires," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 563-587, March.
    16. Charlotte Lécuyer & Marine Kergoat & Christine Lambey-Checchin, 2026. "Instrumental or Normative Motives: How Should Brands Implement Their Activism Campaigns?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 203(3), pages 667-685, January.
    17. Anne O. Peschel & Lina F. Jacobsen & Ekaterina Salnikova & Marjia Banovic & Klaus G. Grunert, 2025. "The power of diversity in online communities," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 949-962, December.
    18. Michel, Géraldine & Stathopoulou, Anastasia & Valette-Florence, Pierre, 2022. "Luxury is still alive and well: A spotlight on its multifaceted components," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 276-284.
    19. Ahmad, Fayez & Guzmán, Francisco & Al-Emran, Md, 2024. "Brand activism and the consequence of woke washing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    20. Mithila Guha & Daniel Korschun, 2024. "Peer effects on brand activism: evidence from brand and user chatter on Twitter," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 31(2), pages 153-167, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormksc:v:41:y:2022:i:6:p:1029-1044. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.