Addressing the dichotomy of brand love

Argument 1: “The problem with such definitions and conceptualizations is that they are built on the ill-founded assumption that brand love is identical to interpersonal love.”

Our Response: While it is true that brand love is not the same as interpersonal love, that is not the only way to operationalize it. Brand love can be perfect two-way love, imperfect two-way love, or perfect one-way love (Junaid et al., 2019b). Even its least dynamic form, perfect one-way love, does not restrict its ability to be a relationship (Fetscherin, 2014).

Argument 2: “Prior studies have identified love as an emotion that people can experience while in consumption contexts.”

Our Response: While studies have identified brand love as an emotion, the purpose of science is to filter and evolve extant concepts, not to adhere to ideas without question. (see Albert, Merunka, & Valette-Florence, 2008 for brand love as not an emotion but a relationship.) Studies have found that consumers also identify “brand love” as a relationship (Albert et al., 2008; Batra, Ahuvia, & Bagozzi, 2012).

Argument 3: “Conceptualization of brand love as an emotion offers it as theoretically unique and distinct from its causes and consequences.”

Our Response: It may be naïve to restrict or undermine a phenomenon simply for the sake of uniqueness and distinctness.

Argument 4: “A conceptualization (like of) Batra et al., (2012) is too broad to have much operational meaning.”

Our Response: Attributes of a relationship are bound to vary with change in partners and contexts. Researchers adapt and eliminate irrelevant dimension(s) based on their settings. Aro, Suomi, and Saraniemi (2018) eliminated the dimension of passion in their investigation of destination brand love.

Argument 5: “It is of limited scientific value and of even less managerial value.”

Our Response: Marketing practitioners see brand love as a leading objective of brand management (Hegner, Fenko, & Teravest, 2017). When Monster outsold Red Bull, the head of Monster’s marketing team, Jamal Benmiloud, attributed their success to the brand love they developed for their brand (Brown, Benmiloud, & O’Shannessey, 2015).

Argument 6: “Conceiving brand love as a single and specific feeling could help managers avoid getting lost in the plethora of brand love conceptualizations.”

Our Response: Earlier definitions of brand love vary because of the evolution process. Now, most researchers have reached consensus on Batra et al.’s (2012) definition, the outcome of an in-depth qualitative investigation. Further categorization by Junaid et al. (2019b) facilitates the selection of operationalization based on the setting.

Assurance: An emotion carries a sense of obscurity, while a relationship reflects the property of assurance (Batra et al., 2008, 2012). For example, a consumer who experiences the emotion of love for a brand, may say, “I love this brand, but I don’t know how well it will ultimately pan out.” On the other hand, a consumer in a love relationship with a brand would say, “It’s the best brand, and I know that” (Batra et al., 2012).

Commitment: Emotion does not generate a long-term commitment, but a relationship does. On experiencing the emotion of love for a brand, the consumer cannot immediately express commitment to that brand for a longer period, but with “brand love,” consumers express commitment to the brand (Heinrich, Bauer, & Mühl, 2008).

Dimensions: An emotion may have only one or two dimensions, such as affection and arousal, while brand love has multiple dimensions that research has suggested may include passion, connection, and affection (Thomson, MacInnis, & Whan Park, 2005); commitment, intimacy, and passion (Heinrich et al., 2008); perceived functional quality, attitude strength, positive affect, negative affect, satisfaction, self-related cognitions, and loyalty (Batra, Ahuvia, & Bagozzi, 2008); idealization, intimacy, pleasure, dream, memories, unicity, passion, and affection (Albert et al., 2008); or self-brand integration, passion-driven behaviors, positive emotional connection, long-term relationship, positive overall attitude, valence, attitude valence, and confidence (Batra et al., 2012).

Outcomes: Outcomes of emotion cannot be diverse and may not last for a long period, while a relationship may generate diverse responses that last as long as the relationship is sustained. For instance, when a consumer adores a brand or experiences an emotion of love for that brand, he or she may at that moment respond with arousal or affection but will probably not immediately respond with behaviors like satisfaction (de Oliveira Santini, Ladeira, Sampaio, & Pinto, 2018), loyalty (Huang, 2017), forgiveness (Hegner et al., 2017), engagement (Junaid, Hou, Hussain, & Kirmani, 2019a), brand trust (Delgado-Ballester & Luis Munuera-Alemán, 2001), and well-being (Junaid et al., 2019a).