Why Do Consumers Subvert Brands? Investigating the Influence of Subjective Well‐Being on Brand Avoidance

Abstract

Negative consumer–brand interactions often result in consumer subversion, in which consumers actively reject or avoid brands. To date, the role of positive emotional states, such as subjective well-being, in brand avoidance remains a crucial oversight in the literature seeking to address consumer subversion. In this study, comprising three studies, we examine why and when subjective well-being influences brand avoidance. Drawing on self-control theory and the literature related to anti-consumption, we argue and demonstrate in Study 1 (N = 330) that subjective well-being enhances consumers' ability to avoid brands that transgress moral and ethical norms. Study 2 (N = 251) reveals the underlying psychological process by which subjective well-being engenders greater self-control in consumers who, as a response, exhibit brand avoidance behavior. Study 3 (N = 243) indicates that anti-consumption attitude serves as the boundary condition; it specifically demonstrates that a macro-oriented anti-consumption attitude accentuates the influence of subjective well-being on brand avoidance, whereas a micro-oriented anti-consumption attitude does not have any effect. Our research contributes to the consumer subversion literature by evaluating the influence of subjective well-being on moral brand avoidance. This study offers key insights for marketing managers entering markets containing consumers with high or low subjective well-being.

Keywords: anti‐consumption, brand avoidance, consumer subversion, self‐control theory, subjective well‐being