Consumers are more likely to punish than reward a brand for its values

The finding: Brands can’t afford to take their value-based propositions lightly given the cost of taking a stance appears to outweigh the benefits.

• Roughly half (48%) of consumers report increased loyalty to brands that share their social or political values, per a survey by the Loyalty Science Lab at Old Dominion University.
• However, a much greater share, 66%, have stopped or reduced purchasing from brands that clash with their perspective.

Worth the cost? At this politically fraught moment, brands may want to think twice before taking on political stances.

• However, it isn’t that simple: Consumers respond to both a brand’s public pronouncements as well as internal manifestations of brand values such as how it treats its employees.
• The survey found that women show stronger responses to employee mistreatment than men, though gender differences disappear in responses to positive employee treatment.

Our take: Most brands should try to steer clear of politics—even though 58% of US adults believe companies should be able to express how they feel on a topic, per YouGov.

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