Branding strategies for controversial products: the role of ingredient co-branding and brand positioning

Purpose This study aims to investigate the most effective branding strategy for facilitating the acceptance of controversial products. Three strategies were compared: host brand alone, ingredient brand alone and ingredient co-branding. The study also examined which brand positioning – warm, competent or ideological – would best suit an ingredient brand wanting to partner with a host brand. Design/methodology/approach An experiment was conducted on 70 consumers using a survey and an eye tracker. The survey measured curiosity, purchase intention and brand fit, while the eye tracker recorded fixation duration (interest), revisits (semantic informativeness) and peak velocity of saccades (arousal). Findings The results indicated that host brand alone and ingredient co-branding elicited greater curiosity and intention to purchase than ingredient brand alone, with ingredient co-branding also exerting a significant impact on semantic informativeness and arousal. Furthermore, consumers perceived a warmly positioned ingredient brand as most compatible with the host brand. Originality/value This study extends the literature on ingredient co-branding by examining it in the context of controversial products. In doing so, it reveals the efficacy of an ingredient co-branding strategy and informs brand hosts to select partners with a warm brand positioning.