Over the rainbow: Exploring consumers’ attitudes toward brands taking a stance

More and more brands are taking a stand on sociopolitical issues such as the rights of individuals within the LGBTQIA+ spectrum in their advertising campaigns. Thereby, brands engage in brand activism, an emerging marketing strategy that seeks to meet consumer expectations, foster competitive differentiation, and drive sociopolitical change. However, the impact of this strategy on consumers’ attitudes remains uncertain. As brands increasingly tackle LGBTQIA+ issues in their advertising, accusations of opportunism and rainbow-washing have surfaced, suggesting that brands may exploit these communities without genuinely supporting them. Therefore, this study aimed to explore how exposure to different types of social brand activism addressing LGBTQIA+ issues in advertising affects consumers’ attitudes, while considering the moderating roles of consumer-brand stance-agreement and ad skepticism. For this research, a between-subject experimental survey was conducted online. Participants (N = 174) were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions representing different types of brand activism: absent, authentic, and inauthentic. In each condition, participants were exposed to an advertisement of a fictitious toothpaste brand that either contained no brand activism or authentic and inauthentic LGBTQIA+ brand activism. The brand’s activism authenticity was manipulated through fictional newspaper articles, one praising its genuine commitment and the other accusing it of rainbow-washing. Responses on consumers’ attitudes toward the ad and brand were analyzed using one-way ANCOVAs and moderation analysis using PROCESS. Results revealed that participants exposed to authentic social brand activism rated the ad and brand more positively than those exposed to no activism or inauthentic activism. Consumer-brand stance-agreement was found to play a moderating role in the association between (in)authentic social brand activism and attitude toward the brand, but not toward the ad. No significant moderating effect was found for advertising skepticism. This study provides new theoretical insights into the use of social brand activism in advertising. The practical implications that emerge from these findings encourage brands to take positions on sociopolitical issues in their advertising when done based on sincere motives. Given the existing research gap regarding the effects of brand activism, this study adds to the literature on consumers’ attitudes toward (in)authentic brand activism, covering positioning on LGBTQIA+ issues in advertising.