Dealing with demarketing of branded products on social media platforms

Purpose The present paper attempts to unearth how firms and marketers can deal with the demarketing of branded products on social media platforms, especially Instagram. Design/methodology/approach We conducted two studies using AI-powered Atlas.ti 24.0 and Python 3.10 software to analyze the data. Findings In Study 1, key concerns, emotions and related themes shared by viewers were extracted from overall comments. They mainly emphasized social, family and food-related concerns along with a mixed bag of emotions. Summary reports were also generated for each and all product categories. To some extent, these findings are similar to those of Study 2. Research limitations/implications The study selected influencers’ demarketing branded product reels on Instagram based on the maximum number of likes. Practical implications Micro-influencers mainly target packaged food brands for demarketing on Instagram to become celebrities. The reels uploaded about these products/brands attract many users to follow such influencers. Thus, the current paper is very insightful in guiding firms and managers. Originality/value Many studies have been conducted on efficiently using various social media platforms for marketing products/brands. The present study is different and explores how to deal with demarketing video content of branded products on social media platforms.