The aim of this study is to explore the effects of fake news on consumers’ brand trust in the food security context. The starting point of our research is the finding that issues related to food security cannot be addressed without the contribution of multinational food corporations. The efficiency of their intervention depends on their capacity to build and preserve their brand trust despite the multifarious fake news stories that contaminate the information flow. Is brand trust sensitive to fake news? In some cases, the spread of fake news in mass media and social media negatively affects food companies. In other cases, consumers’ trust remains relatively unchanged. These ambivalent reactions give us good reason to assess whether consumers’ exposure to negative fake news influences their trust in international food brands. Using a one-group pretest–posttest research design, we found that the effects of fake news on consumers’ brand trust are predominantly negative, but in a few cases, these effects can be neutral or positive. These results could be useful for PR and marketing researchers and professionals interested in fake news phenomena and brand trust because they shed light on the real threat fake news represents for multinational food companies.

中文翻译：

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假新闻对消费者品牌信任的影响

本研究的目的是探讨食品安全背景下假新闻对消费者品牌信任的影响。我们研究的出发点是发现，如果没有跨国食品公司的贡献，就无法解决与食品安全相关的问题。尽管有五花八门的假新闻污染了信息流，但他们干预的效率取决于他们建立和维护品牌信任的能力。品牌信任对假新闻敏感吗？在某些情况下，假新闻在大众媒体和社交媒体上的传播会对食品公司产生负面影响。在其他情况下，消费者的信任度保持相对不变。这些矛盾的反应让我们有充分的理由评估消费者接触负面假新闻是否会影响他们对国际食品品牌的信任。使用一组前测-后测研究设计，我们发现假新闻对消费者品牌信任的影响主要是负面的，但在少数情况下，这些影响可能是中性的或正面的。这些结果可能对公关和营销研究人员以及对假新闻现象和品牌信任感兴趣的专业人士有用，因为它们揭示了假新闻对跨国食品公司的真正威胁。