Consumer Fanboys Confuse Brand Identity With Their Own

[Meat-O-Rama]

Have you ever found yourself frothing at the fingertips while explaining why someone doesn’t deserve to use an iPhone because of the offender’s deeply flawed sense of aesthetics? Have you been the type to declare that those who don’t use Android are cylons who are under mind control from Cupertino? Or are you Peter Bright, turning up your nose at all of us while you wax on about the unappreciated genius of the Windows 7 Phone?


You may think you’re defending your favorite platform, because it’s just that good. But, according to a recently published study out of the University of Illinois, you may instead be defending yourself because you view criticisms of your favorite brand as a threat to your self image. The study, which will be published in the next issue of the Journal of Consumer Psychology, examines the strength of consumer-brand relationships, concluding that those who have more knowledge of and experience with a brand are more personally impacted by incidents of brand “failure.”

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/08/consumer-self-image/

 

[Teren_Kanan]

I thought this was obvious. It's just a part of human nature.

Cool study though.

 

[CliffnDallas]

What insane rubbish.

 

[Baileyneverfailey]

It's true, but nobody needed a study to know it. People don't like to hear criticism of things that they themselves like, because it makes them feel like you're insulting their tastes. Go find somebody who passionately loves a musician or a certain film that you think that artist/movie is terrible and see how many of them just say "I appreciate your opinion."

 

[Teren_Kanan]

What insane rubbish.

Explain?

Do so, keeping in mind that they did not say this was the case for everyone. And they used the word may, when saying "you may instead be defending yourself because you view criticisms of your favorite brand as a threat to your self image"

It's a generalization to be sure. But Generalizations are.. generally.. true.

 

[CliffnDallas]

Explain?

Do so, keeping in mind that they did not say this was the case for everyone. And they used the word may, when saying "you may instead be defending yourself because you view criticisms of your favorite brand as a threat to your self image"

It's a generalization to be sure. But Generalizations are.. generally.. true.

The jest i get is that if you walk up to some 20 something and tell him his phone sucks. It hurts his feelings. Bunch of mental defectives.

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

Have you ever found yourself frothing at the fingertips while explaining why someone doesn’t deserve to use an iPhone because of the offender’s deeply flawed sense of aesthetics? Have you been the type to declare that those who don’t use Android are cylons who are under mind control from Cupertino? Or are you Peter Bright, turning up your nose at all of us while you wax on about the unappreciated genius of the Windows 7 Phone?


You may think you’re defending your favorite platform, because it’s just that good. But, according to a recently published study out of the University of Illinois, you may instead be defending yourself because you view criticisms of your favorite brand as a threat to your self image. The study, which will be published in the next issue of the Journal of Consumer Psychology, examines the strength of consumer-brand relationships, concluding that those who have more knowledge of and experience with a brand are more personally impacted by incidents of brand “failure.”

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/08/consumer-self-image/

:laugh2: Funny, but I think this is true for some.

 

[theogt]

It's true, but nobody needed a study to know it. People don't like to hear criticism of things that they themselves like, because it makes them feel like you're insulting their tastes. Go find somebody who passionately loves a musician or a certain film that you think that artist/movie is terrible and see how many of them just say "I appreciate your opinion."

This is true. But some people go a step beyond and attach irrational hatred/love to companies and their management.

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

This is true. But some people go a step beyond and attach irrational hatred/love to companies and their management.

I"ve admired companies over the years. I worked for Dell during the economic boom. I was proud to be a part of that and then I was glad to ultimately leave. I also sold wireless phones when there was actually a little money to be made doing so with ATT. But one thing I notice about companies is as they start getting richer and richer, they become less about their employees, customers and product and more concerned about the bottom dollar.

Obviously, that's the name of the game. But compromised ethics can sometimes leave people with a bitter taste in their mouths.