Abstract Brands have long been advised to not post or encourage negative messages about competing brands; but individual users independently posting “snark” or celebrating the travails of competing brands via social media is common. This study investigates how schadenfreude, pleasure derived from another’s misfortune, generated by negative social media posts about competing brands affects brand perceptions and attitudes among those of varying degrees of brand identification. This research employs a 2 (post target: ingroup brand vs. outgroup competitor) × 2 (valence of post: positive vs. negative) experiment (N = 108). Results reveal effects of positive-ingroup messages and negative-outgroup messages desired by the brand, moderated by brand identification. Negative-outgroup messages positively influenced perceptions of commitment, affect, and intent to purchase. In short, peer-generated snark about a competitor brand on social media can be beneficial, particularly among those already strongly associating with the preferred brand. Findings are of interest to practitioners monitoring and scholars investigating brand social media activity.

中文翻译：

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Snark发生了：Schadenfreude对品牌态度的影响

长期以来，一直建议品牌不要发布或鼓励有关竞争品牌的负面信息；但是个人用户通常会通过社交媒体独立发布“小食”或庆祝竞争品牌的苦恼。这项研究调查了负面的社交媒体关于竞争品牌的帖子所产生的幸灾乐祸（从他人的不幸中获得的愉悦感）如何影响不同程度的品牌识别中的品牌感知和态度。这项研究采用了2个（后目标：组内品牌vs.组外竞争对手）×2（后价：正面与负面）实验（N = 108）。结果揭示了品牌期望的正向内群信息和负向外群信息的效果，并通过品牌识别来缓和。负面的外界讯息对承诺，影响，和购买意向。简而言之，在社交媒体上由同行产生的关于竞争对手品牌的sn窃可能是有益的，特别是在那些已经与首选品牌紧密联系的人中。调查结果对从业人员进行监控以及研究品牌社交媒体活动的学者都很感兴趣。