Doppelganger brand images (DBIs) are a collection
of disparaging brand images and stories circulated in popular
culture, customarily targeted at brands to hold them accountable
for any inconsistency in the quality of the products or services
provided. If overlooked, DBIs may prove harmful to the brand's
equity and value and sometimes even directly lead to a loss in
sales. This paper delves into how DBIs affect an end consumer's
perception of a brand. It aims to draw insights into a possible
change in consumers' attitudes towards purchasing and
subsequent consumption of the products and services offered by
brands from four different industries(Beverage, Cellular Network,
Airlines and Sports Entertainment) after being exposed to DBIs.
The research was conducted in three steps, including two
quantitative surveys and one qualitative research with the help of
in-depth interviews. Through the first quantitative survey, the
preferred attributes of four product categories beverages industry,
the sports entertainment industry, cellular network industry, and
the airline industry, was observed. Next, any changes in the
respondents' willingness to consume after they have been exposed
to DBIs of four brands from the above four different industries
have been mapped. Through in-depth interviews on a sample of
respondents, the underlying reasons behind the change or lack
thereof were observed. Conducting the qualitative research on
each product category's three competitive brands helped in
assessing the variation in the level of indifference a consumer has
towards a DBI concerning a particular product category. Finally,
quantitative research on the selected sample of respondents was
used to map any possible difference in attitude towards
consumption of the products and services of the brands discussed
in the in-depth interviews, which was used to arrive at the findings
and conclusion. The novelty of this paper lies in the fact that much
of existing research has been done to gauge the effects of negative
branding via Doppelganger Brand Images of products on the
brand equity and sales, by studying on specific brands/products.
The question of “How are consumers impacted by the exposure to
the aforementioned negative branding?” has been attempted to be
answered through this paper, without restricting our scope to a
single business industry or product category. The paper throws
light on the emergence of a possible pattern of consumer’s
perception towards brands that have been targeted by DBIs,
across four product categories, which need to be taken into
account by marketers planning on large scale emotional branding
campaigns of those product categories.
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