Creating ethical brands: the role of brand name on consumer perceived ethicality

A critical component of brand equity is consumer perceived ethicality (CPE) of the brand. Yet, little is known about how to create positive brand CPE. We offer that the starting point for creating brand CPE is with the brand-naming decision. Drawing on sound symbolism theory, we propose that certain...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMarketing letters Vol. 28; no. 3; pp. 411 - 422
Main Authors Klink, Richard R., Wu, Lan
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Springer 01.09.2017
Springer US
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Brand names
Brands
Business and Management
Ethical conduct
Ethics
Market strategy
Marketing
Naming
Purchase intention
Studies
Symbolism
Branding
Brand name
Ethicality
Sound symbolism
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Summary:A critical component of brand equity is consumer perceived ethicality (CPE) of the brand. Yet, little is known about how to create positive brand CPE. We offer that the starting point for creating brand CPE is with the brand-naming decision. Drawing on sound symbolism theory, we propose that certain brand name characteristics better convey ethicality. Two studies are conducted. Study 1 finds that higher frequency sounds in brand names better convey ethicality than lower frequency sounds. Study 2 finds that brand names can positively impact brand CPE in the presence of additional information, in particular, information that reflects negatively on the brand's ethical behavior. These results suggest that marketers be more involved at the onset of creating an ethical brand image.
ISSN:0923-0645
1573-059X
DOI:10.1007/s11002-017-9424-7