Political polarization is a marked political division in the population, characterized by multiple manifestations. We argue that it can impact consumer psychology, which in turn influences marketers, policy makers, and consumer welfare. The present work introduces the construct of political polarization to the marketing literature, and shows how it serves as a novel challenge for various marketing stakeholders. For consumers, we propose that political polarization increases the salience of political identities, alters inter- and intra-group dynamics, and amplifies cognitive biases. These effects negatively impact consumer welfare, including financial welfare, relationships, mental and physical health, and societal interests. For marketers, polarization introduces a challenge to both be more socio-politically engaged while also navigating competing political interests. Polarization also creates new opportunities and challenges for segmentation, targeting, loyalty, and impacts product offerings. For policy makers, political polarization creates policy gaps, impedes the implementation of policy, and obstructs governance. Building from these insights, we consider the drawbacks and overlooked benefits of political polarization, potential remedies, and directions for future research.

政治两极分化是人口中明显的政治分裂，其特征是多种表现形式。我们认为这会影响消费者的心理，进而影响营销商，政策制定者和消费者的福利。本工作将政治两极分化的结构引入到营销文献中，并说明它如何对各种营销利益相关者提出新的挑战。对于消费者，我们建议政治两极化增加政治身份的重要性，改变群体内部和群体内部的动态，并扩大认知偏见。这些影响会对消费者的福利产生负面影响，包括财务福利，人际关系，身心健康以及社会利益。对于营销人员，两极分化带来了一个挑战，即既要在社会政治上更积极地参与，又要在竞争中的政治利益中发展。极化也为细分，目标定位，忠诚度和影响产品提供创造了新的机遇和挑战。对于政策制定者来说，政治上的两极分化会造成政策差距，阻碍政策的执行并阻碍治理。基于这些见解，我们考虑政治两极化的弊端和被忽略的好处，潜在的补救措施以及未来研究的方向。