Fanbois treat criticism of favorite brands as threat to self-image


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Fanbois treat criticism of favorite brands as threat to self-image

Have you ever found yourself frothing at the fingertips while explaining why someone doesn't deserve to use an iPhone because of their deeply flawed sense of aesthetics? Have you been the type to declare that those who don't use Android are cylons who are under mind control from Cupertino? Or are you Peter Bright, turning up your nose at all of us while you wax on about the unappreciated genius of the Windows 7 Phone?

You may think you're defending your favorite platform because it's just that good. But, according to a recently published study out of the University of Illinois, you may instead be defending yourself because you view criticisms of your favorite brand as a threat to your self image. The study, which will be published in the next issue of the Journal of Consumer Psychology, examines the strength of consumer-brand relationships, concluding that those who have more knowledge of and experience with a brand are more personally impacted by incidents of brand "failure."

The researchers performed two experiments, one on a group of 30 women and another on 170 undergraduate students, in order to see whether the subjects' self esteem was tied to the general ratings of various brands. Those who had high self-brand connections (SBC)?that is, those who follow, research, or simply like a certain brand?were the ones whose self esteem suffered the most when their brands didn't do well or were criticized. Those with low SBC remained virtually unaffected on a personal level.

The residual effect of this is that those with high SBCs tend to discount negative news about their favorite brands, and sometimes even ignore it altogether in favor of happier thoughts.

"Consumers are highly resistant to brand failure to the point that they?re willing to rewrite history," business administration professor and researcher Tiffany Barnett White said in a statement. "It not only explains why so many Toyota customers ignored the negative brand information in the aftermath of the highly publicized recalls, it also accounts for why they?re quick to defend the company and why they would want to re-write history in a more positive way."

The paper notes that its conclusions challenge some assumptions from previous literature on brand connections. It had been assumed that brands are treated more like an interpersonal relationship and that brand loyalty is indicative of relationship strength. Instead, the Illinois researchers believe people treat brands as they treat themselves, leading users to feel more affected by brand failure instead of less.

"Because the brand is seen as a part of the self by virtue of being intimately tied to the self, failure on the part of the brand is experienced as a personal failure," reads the paper. "Therefore, in an effort to maintain a positive self-view, high SBC individuals react defensively to brand failure by evaluating the brand favorably despite its poor performance.

Has anyone else already begun to sift through the comments of our platform-specific articles to see who's feeling bad about themselves lately and who's not?

Journal of Consumer Psychology, 2011. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcps.2011.05.005 (About DOIs).

Source: Ars Technica

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Is it just me or do others find it disturbing that people can become so attached to a brand?

nope. it is normal that people like to buy certain brands and will always stick to that brands until something nicer comes along.

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Is it just me or do others find it disturbing that people can become so attached to a brand?

Well then, you must find this site pretty disturbing because most of the people here almost **** themselves when anyone dares to say something against Microsoft!

I find it lulzy that Apple fanbois are the worst for it. <_<

Are they really?? As I said above, just read any thread that remotely says anything negative about precious Microsoft and the defenders of the faith come hurtling out of the woodwork!

I find the lot of them totally laughable!

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I respond to criticism of most of Microsoft's products by pointing out why they're better than the competition for one reason only: I'd much prefer it if more people used those products, and if Microsoft were successful in those markets. Due to how much I love those products, it is more beneficial to me if as many other people as possible also use them.

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I respond to criticism of most of Microsoft's products by pointing out why they're better than the competition for one reason only: I'd much prefer it if more people used those products, and if Microsoft were successful in those markets. Due to how much I love those products, it is more beneficial to me if as many other people as possible also use them.

I like Microsoft as well. And sometimes, even a company we like deserves some criticism... But have it be a well thought out argument. Far too often someone comes up with some crazy argument and then gets bent out of shame when people disagree with it when often they're just being short sighted...

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Is it just me or do others find it disturbing that people can become so attached to a brand?

Nope, not just you. I think it is an absolute joke, and not only that, a reflection of just how sad our society has become overall.

nope. it is normal that people like to buy certain brands and will always stick to that brands until something nicer comes along.

What you view as normal I view as abnormal.

Furthermore, sticking to certain brands out of habit is much, much different than defending said brand. I can like a brand, even prefer a brand, but that does not mean I will defend said brand. Especially when at the end of the day that brand is only a personal choice and nothing else. Defending a brand as if it is the only brand would in my eyes actually be saying my opinion is the only one that is correct, and I simply know this is not the case.

What I truly find to be the saddest truth about being a fanboy is more often than not people are defending mega corporations. The same corporations which those people, despite the most clever of marketing convincing people otherwise, are nothing but numbers to said corporation. They pledge their allegiance to companies that could care less about their actual well being, and only care about the bottom line numbers, aka the money, that person represents to them.

Well then, you must find this site pretty disturbing because most of the people here almost **** themselves when anyone dares to say something against Microsoft!

And this is one my participation in the Gamers Hangout in particular has slowly dwindled the past couple of years. In fact I almost hardly go into the MS sub section anymore. Just impossible to express constructive criticism. The same could be said for any sub sections for that matter, but I do find the MS one in particular to be the worst.

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I find it lulzy that Apple fanbois are the worst for it. <_<

Because they buy the worst products?

Ever heard the joke: Why are apple users always so skinny? Cause they spend so much energy trying to convince PC users that theyre equals.

Any intelligent user will drop any form of Brand Loyalty, and just buy things as they come based on quality. Before i buy ANYTHING, i look up user/professional reviews of it, i dont care what brand it is. It's sad people have nothing better to do than be loyal to a company which in the end is just a company, and only wants to use you.

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I like Microsoft as well. And sometimes, even a company we like deserves some criticism... But have it be a well thought out argument. Far too often someone comes up with some crazy argument and then gets bent out of shame when people disagree with it when often they're just being short sighted...

I agree on this statement. Most of the times I try to make claims that are in defense of Microsoft because people post stupid thinks like "IE sucks because it's made by Microsoft." However, I'm not willing to bash all of the other competition. I think HP is a very innovative company these days along with Microsoft, I think Google is a good company (although they're not as innovative in some areas...for now that is), and I find Apple to be an evil company with their business practices. I also don't find Apple innovative these days. However, I'm not blind in the sense that I don't accept the fact that Apple could change any second to become a good company that actually innovates more too. The fanboys are the ones who think that companies don't change over time and will always be a certain way. I remember I used to dislike Microsoft before 2008 because I felt that they had terrible business practices that were sort of bullish. But I've seen how much they've changed over the years. The real fanboys are the ones who can't accept change, who cling to their arguments no matter what the facts are. And I've seen a couple of those people on Neowin before... :whistle:

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Well then, you must find this site pretty disturbing because most of the people here almost **** themselves when anyone dares to say something against Microsoft!

Are they really?? As I said above, just read any thread that remotely says anything negative about precious Microsoft and the defenders of the faith come hurtling out of the woodwork!

I find the lot of them totally laughable!

WTF? :wacko:

Not sure what site you are talking about but there is a massive number of Apple fanboys on this site. Microsoft gets bashed non-stop by trolls and no one does anything about it.

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Not sure what site you are talking about but there is a massive number of Apple fanboys on this site. Microsoft gets bashed non-stop by trolls and no one does anything about it.

Seems like Microsoft gets bashed by Google fans way more than by Apple fans these days.

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The fanboi argument I see most often is the xbox versus PS3 one. I frequent a lot of gaming sites and forums, when you see some of the venom people direct at each other over which console is better you would think they were all being paid by Sony or Microsoft to defend the brand.

If someone says something blatantly false about a product I own, I'll correct them, but I don't think I've ever felt personally insulted because someone doesn't like the console I like or the phone I use or the laptop I've got. Let's be honest, most people have no idea wtf they are talking about anyway. That even includes me . . . sometimes . . . At least I admit it! :p

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You guys that are going "but X fanboys are the worst" or "well you don't see X company being bashed more frequently than Y" are only proving the article's point.

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You guys that are going "but X fanboys are the worst" or "well you don't see X company being bashed more frequently than Y" are only proving the article's point.

^ Precisely!

I find the lot of them totally laughable!

I am quoting myself here: I happened to make mention of one of the companies and then I said what I've quoted above!! Perhaps I should have spoon fed those who could not infer from what was written!

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I did find it humorous that the article author was poking fun at a colleague that likes MS stuff...including that wonderful "Windows 7 Phone" stuff... /facepalm.

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