THE EFFECT OF A BRAND’S COVID-19 PANDEMIC RESPONSE ON CONSUMER BRAND PERCEPTION

Abstract

In my thesis, I dive deeper into the idea that a brand’s reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they market this reaction, has an effect on consumer brand perception. During experimentation, participants were randomly assigned either a control or one of two manipulated conditions that showcased a fictional online store’s clothing advertisement along with their response to levels of safety for employees, or lack of safety, during the pandemic. The results of this experiment proved to be significant indicating that there is a difference in responses to each of these advertisements. This research is essential for online retail stores to understand the effect of their actions internally regarding the COVID-19 pandemic on its potential consumers as it is now clear that businesses could be significantly harmed for their actions regarding safety measures for employees.