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Creating ethical brands: the role of brand name on consumer perceived ethicality

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Abstract

A critical component of brand equity is consumer perceived ethicality (CPE) of the brand. Yet, little is known about how to create positive brand CPE. We offer that the starting point for creating brand CPE is with the brand-naming decision. Drawing on sound symbolism theory, we propose that certain brand name characteristics better convey ethicality. Two studies are conducted. Study 1 finds that higher frequency sounds in brand names better convey ethicality than lower frequency sounds. Study 2 finds that brand names can positively impact brand CPE in the presence of additional information, in particular, information that reflects negatively on the brand’s ethical behavior. These results suggest that marketers be more involved at the onset of creating an ethical brand image.

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Notes

  1. An anonymous reviewer indicated that subjects could have inferred semantic meaning from two replicates: “silk” in Silker and “gun” in Gunhark. After omitting both corresponding word pairs and reanalyzing, the results did not change substantively (Choice_aggregate = 69.1%, p < .001).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sellinger School of Business and Management, Loyola University Maryland, 4501 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD, 21210, USA

    Richard R. Klink

  2. College of Business and Economics, California State University, East Bay, 25800 Carlos Bee Boulevard, Hayward, CA, 94542, USA

    Lan Wu

Authors
  1. Richard R. Klink
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  2. Lan Wu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Richard R. Klink.

Ethics declarations

One hundred and seven English-speaking business students (57% female, mean age = 19.8) from an Eastern university provided written consent and participated in the study for partial course credit.

Funding

This research was supported in part by the FJ DeFrancis Scholar Fund through the Sellinger School of Business and Management at Loyola University Maryland.

Additional information

Richard R. Klink and Lan Wu contributed equally to this work.

Appendix 1: target blog posts used in study 2

Appendix 1: target blog posts used in study 2

1.1 Positive condition

1.1.1 New bottled water to cross the pond

The XXX (brand name) brand of bottled water is all set to be introduced into the United States in 2015. The initial roll-out of the product will begin on the east coast in Fall 2015. By the end of 2016, XXX bottled water is expected to be available in all 50 states.

XXX bottled water was first launched in the United Kingdom in 2012 and is now available in 12 different countries across Europe. In 2014, sales of XXX bottled water increased 50% over the 2013 sales figure. Mark Campson, a spokesperson of the company, attributed the rapid growth to consumers’ demand for an “ethical bottled water with a pure, natural taste.” The Stillberg Environmental Times published an article last week stating that XXX bottled water uses more than 80% recyclable material in its packaging, which is well above comparable products. The article also praises XXX bottled water for donating considerable profits to charities that help local communities.

In the United States, the product will be sold initially in well-known grocery stores such as Giant, Safeway, and Kroger and will also be available in some mass merchandisers such as Target and Walmart. The company is working with distributors to make the product available in national chain drugstores as well.

1.2 Negative condition

1.2.1 New bottled water to cross the pond

The XXX (brand name) brand of bottled water is all set to be introduced into the United States in 2015. The initial roll-out of the product will begin on the east coast in Fall 2015. By the end of 2016, XXX bottled water is expected to be available in all 50 states.

XXX bottled water was first launched in the United Kingdom in 2012 and is now available in 12 different countries across Europe. In 2014, sales of XXX bottled water increased 50% over the 2013 sales figure. Mark Campson, a spokesperson of the company, attributed the rapid growth to consumers’ demand for an “ethical bottled water with a pure, natural taste.” However, the Stillberg Environmental Times published an article last week stating that XXX bottled water uses less than 20% recyclable material in its packaging, which is well below comparable products. The article also criticizes XXX bottled water for donating little profits to charities that help local communities.

In the United States, the product will be sold initially in well-known grocery stores such as Giant, Safeway, and Kroger and will also be available in some mass merchandisers such as Target and Walmart. The company is working with distributors to make the product available in national chain drugstores as well.

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Klink, R.R., Wu, L. Creating ethical brands: the role of brand name on consumer perceived ethicality. Mark Lett 28, 411–422 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-017-9424-7

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