Hate Speech and Bad Language

The Ugly Face of Social Influencers and Its Impact on Brands

verfasst von

Walter von Mettenheim, Klaus Peter Wiedmann

Abstract

In light of the growing trend of influencer marketing, ample research has been conducted on its success factors (Lin et al., 2018). However, one success factor has rarely been considered: Influencers’ moral integrity, i.e., the absence of scandals. This is all the more surprising because the absence of scandals has been identified as the first and most important requirement for the success of any celebrity – above other much more frequently discussed requirements such as attractiveness, expertise or trustworthiness (Amos et al., 2015). As influencers’ main field of activity is the Internet, a major scandal may become a worldwide event in a matter of hours (Piazza & Jourdan, 2018). In addition, a scandal caused by an influencer is likely to become dangerous for an endorsed brand, which will be considered “guilty by association” (Appel et al., 2020; Kintu & Ben-Slimane, 2020). In the course of this work, we focus on five Hate Speech & Bad Language Scandals. These are: (1) Common use of Swearwords, (2) Gossiping, (3) Insulting followers, (4) Extremism and (5) Racist Slurs. Thereby we analyze the (a) perceived immorality and effects on (b) trust in the influencer, (c) liking of the influencer, (d) following the influencer and (e) purchase intention of the endorsed brand. We pose the following questions: Which scandals have the worst impacts on the influencer and brand? Are there some (minor) scandals that are not hazardous or may even be positive? To answer these questions, we examine and rank the effects of scandals on the influencer and endorsed brands through a survey employing 429 data sets analyzed by variance and cluster analyses in SPSS. In this way, we hierarchize influencer scandals. Some of the results are surprising. For example, even relatively small transgressions, such as the use of swearwords, can have detrimental effects on both the influencer and the brand – nevertheless it is the most minor scandal. Gossiping and insulting followers is of medium seriousness. The most serious scandals are extremism and racist slurs. Overall, a racist slur appears to be the most serious scandal, followed by extremism (except for the variable immorality, where insulting followers is the second worst). Finally, it should be noted that the impacts of the scandals on the five dependent variables were all similar, with differences in details only. At best, the small differences between immorality and the four other dependent variables are noteworthy. For example, immorality is the only variable for which gossiping does not differ significantly from extremism.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Marketing und Management

Typ

Abstract in Konferenzband

Seiten

291-292

Anzahl der Seiten

2

Publikationsdatum

14.03.2023

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Strategie und Management, Marketing

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 16 – Frieden, Gerechtigkeit und starke Institutionen

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24687-6_116 (Zugang: Geschlossen)