A New Approach Towards User-Generated Content in Anti-Brand Communities: Are All Online Anti-Brand Communities the Same?

Online anti-brand communities are growing rapidly, yet little is known about what drives members to create different types of content. Similarly, research on structural differences between online anti-brand and brand communities is limited. Anti-consumption literature often ties consumers’ relationships with brands to emotions, with brand hatred representing a particularly intense negative response. This goes beyond dislike, signifying deep negativity toward a brand. Prior studies frequently explore brand hatred through equity theory, examining the impact of symbolic dissonance and ideological conflict. However, many treat anti-brand communities formed from negative product experiences and those arising from ideological disagreements as identical. Building on Soylemez's (2021a) work, this study uses equity theory to explore how community orientation (brand vs. anti-brand) and the reasons for anti-brand community formation (performance issues vs. value conflicts) influence content creation. Experiments show that performance-based anti-brand community members favor community-oriented content, while value-based anti-brand members focus on brand-oriented content. Moreover, members of online brand communities produce more brand-oriented content than their anti-brand counterparts. These findings highlight significant differences in content production across community types. The study concludes by discussing managerial and theoretical implications, providing insights into the complex dynamics of online brand and anti-brand communities.