Do brands really lose customer affinity because of selective social media outrage?

Ceat Tyres, FabIndia, Dabur, Tanishq and Sabyasachi are a few names that have been heavily trolled recently on social media. It must be noted that none of these brands were trolled for their products. They were instead trolled for their advertising and marketing initiatives.

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Ideally, the purpose of advertising is to make the audience aware of the product, influence them to make a purchase as well as remind them of the presence of the brand and the product in the market. 

Most of these brands tried to come out with a narrative on social, cultural and religious practices. However, as soon as the outrage began, the brands took down their campaigns. Last week, BestMediaInfo.com reached out to creative and brand experts to understand whether this is the right approach.

Experts suggested that although brands must evaluate the environment before their campaigns, they must also continue standing up for the causes they support.

This time we try and understand whether social media trolling actually affects a brand’s on-ground business.

Over the last one week, BestMediaInfo.com reached out to people through social media, WhatsApp and personal interviews to understand if trolling can actually affect a brand’s sales and business.

The respondents, small yet over 100 in number, were between the age group of 19-45.

Here is what we found out:

Most people would not stop purchasing a product just because the brand has been trolled heavily on social media. Only 7% of the respondents agreed that trolling would impact their purchase.

When asked will they stop purchasing a product if it offends them on a personal level, 71% of the respondents said Yes, while 29% replied in the negative.

Some people also said it depends on the subject and at what level they have been offended/put off by it.

On being questioned about whether upon being offended they will encourage others in their social circle to also stop purchasing the said product, 76% of respondents refused. However, 24% also said they would be inclined to do so.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com