This paper aimed to empirically deepen our understanding of the growing phenomenon of negative consumer-brand relationships in the Internet, striving to investigate “who and why” consumers join anti-brand communities against the top ten global brands. In particular, this study aims to investigate whether the consumers’ profile affects whether they develop negative feelings or not, and the main reasons for their negative feelings. Methodologically, this study is based on the quantitative methodology of the survey and on the statistical verification of several research hypotheses formulated on the impact of the main consumer characteristics (gender, age, country of origin, education, empathy) on their behavior towards the hated brands. Regarding “who”, our findings show that gender, age and country of origin are the main consumer characteristics affecting both their negative feelings towards brands and their willingness to join an anti-brand community. Regarding “why”, low quality of products/services and a lack of corporate social responsibility are the main reasons for hating brands. Finally, this study contributes to knowledge of negative consumer-brand relationships in the Internet domain and provides advanced insights into consumer behavior with reference to the top global brands. It also encourages further research on the interconnections among the central questions of this paper, i.e., who and why individuals join anti-brand communities, and represents a starting point for further studies aimed at expanding the consumer characteristics investigated in this paper, including personality traits. This study also pioneers the profile of anti-brand community participants in the Internet, which is so pertinent in the rise of marketing 5.0.

中文翻译：

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加入互联网上的反品牌社区：谁和为什么

本文旨在通过实证加深我们对互联网中日益增长的负面消费者品牌关系现象的理解，力求针对全球十大品牌调查“谁以及为什么”消费者加入反品牌社区。特别是，本研究旨在调查消费者的个人资料是否会影响他们是否会产生负面情绪，以及产生负面情绪的主要原因。在方法论上，本研究基于调查的定量方法和对主要消费者特征（性别、年龄、原籍国、教育、同理心）对其对仇恨行为的影响的若干研究假设的统计验证品牌。关于“谁”，我们的研究结果表明，性别、年龄和原籍国是主要的消费者特征，既影响他们对品牌的负面情绪，也影响他们加入反品牌社区的意愿。关于“为什么”，产品/服务质量低下和缺乏企业社会责任感是讨厌品牌的主要原因。最后，本研究有助于了解互联网领域的负面消费者品牌关系，并参考全球顶级品牌提供对消费者行为的高级见解。它还鼓励进一步研究本文的中心问题之间的相互联系，即个人谁以及为什么加入反品牌社区，并代表进一步研究旨在扩展本文调查的消费者特征，包括个性特征的起点.