Corporate response strategies in brand activism crises: The effects of deal, diminish and deny approaches on brand reputation and negative word-of-mouth

Brand activism, defined as the practice through which companies adopt a public stance on social and political issues, has the potential to precipitate a swift backlash. Thus, it can engender a crisis for companies that differs significantly from ‘normal’ crises. In this context, this paper explores the effectiveness of different crisis response strategies in mitigating reputational damage and limiting negative word-of-mouth in a brand activism crisis. Through a 3 × 1 factorial online experiment (n = 213), the study examines the impacts of three response strategies: taking responsibility (‘deal’), minimising the issue (‘diminish’) and denying involvement (‘deny’). The findings indicate that the ‘deal’ strategy, wherein companies acknowledge responsibility, leads to a more favourable brand reputation and reduces negative word-of-mouth compared to the ‘diminish’ and ‘deny’ approaches. The study concludes by discussing the practical implications of these results for companies navigating brand activism crises. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.