Brand scandals within a corporate social responsibility partnership: asymmetrical effects on for-profit and non-profit brands

This research explores the effects of a brand scandal that affects a for-profit brand collaborating with a non-profit organisation. Two experimental studies demonstrated that the effects on the for-profit brand were driven by the domain of the partnership and the crisis, while the effects on the non-profit brand were not. A crisis in the same domain as the partnership had stronger effects on the for-profit brand (intention to buy and negative word of mouth). These effects are mediated by perceptions of brand hypocrisy and a decrease in for-profit brand equity. The non-profit brand is equally hurt by the for-profit brand crisis, regardless of the partnership-crisis consistency. Our results indicate a strong asymmetry: the non-profit brand, despite its innocence, is more vulnerable than the guilty for-profit brand.