Welcome to the 2025 AAA Annual Conference in Pittsburgh, PA! We are so glad you are joining us. Be sure to share your time at the conference using #AAA2025!
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In recent years, brand activism has become a popular strategy for aligning with social causes and engaging audiences. However, despite its potential benefits and risks—especially during Pride Month—there is limited understanding of how brands can effectively use this approach to build consumer trust. Study 1 uses social media text mining and content analysis to look at consumers' Twitter responses to the most criticized 2023 Pride Month campaigns, Target (1,181 tweets) and Bud Light (943 tweets). Study 2 uses an experiment (N = 290) to explore how the brand value-campaigns congruence (congruent vs. incongruent) and brand credibility (high vs. low) interact to influence attitudes and behavioral intentions. In Study 1, sentiment analysis revealed that the largest category for Target (22.62%) and Budlight (24.75%) was both “Negative”. The coding results showed that for both brands, the level of support expressed toward the LGBTQ community was greater than the level of criticism. However, the criticism directed toward the brands was greater than the support. Study 2 findings revealed that for high-credibility brands, brand-ad congruence increased brand authenticity, message credibility, ad and brand attitudes, purchase intentions, and eWOM intentions. For low-credibility brands, congruence improved ad authenticity. Additionally, authenticity significantly mediated the effects of congruence and credibility across all variables, while advertising skepticism moderated the effects on brand authenticity and message credibility.
Please note: Speakers are automatically alphabetized by last name in SCHED. The speaker order here does not necessarily reflect the true authorship order of the presentation.
