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Note cover page format to follow.

Negative Backlash in Digital Marketing Branding

Name

University of Maryland Global Campus

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The number of people utilizing the internet is growing every day, presenting more

opportunities than ever for online consumers. Grocery delivery, handmade crafts, and

socializing in large groups are some of the many ways to interact with the world from the

comfort of one’s home. Unfortunately, the internet as a platform also leaves space for volatility

to roam rampant and unchecked some people causing disarray and spread of misinformation

by giving unconstructive feedback in online reviews. Brands today rely heavily on feedback from

consumers to grow their products; like how a game developer requires testers to help find and

eliminate glitches that went unnoticed. There has been an influx of individuals intentionally

spreading negativity for their own sake causing damage to various brands’ reputations. This

type of damage spreads to the opinions of uninformed consumers who base their thoughts on

reading reviews, with or without context. Brands are now scrambling to find ways to preserve

their reputation and avoid backlash while retaining the trust of their consumers that is fading.

Digital media marketing practices must change to minimize internet volatility and find new

ways to detract from review bombing, internet trolling, and misinformation.

In order to better understand this issue, it is important to understand key terminology

and vocabulary specific to this issue. A “hate raid” is a coordinated group of individuals or bots

to harass and demoralize a streamer. Recently, individuals of marginalized groups, such as LGBT

and black communities have been the main target of hate raids. Many streamers have taken to

social media using the hashtag #TwitchDoBetter, demanding that the streaming platform

Twitch act against hate raiding. In a recent article, Jody Macgregor (2021) discusses how

streamers have been affected, and the shortcomings of Twitch’s mod tools. He stated, “Twitch's

Automod has four levels of filtering to choose from and supposedly adapts to catch deliberate
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misspellings, but can still be defeated by something as simple as inserting a single Cyrillic

character in a slur” (Macgregor, 2021). Additionally, an “internet troll” is a person who

intentionally attempts to provoke emotional reactions and manipulate others in an online

community for self-gratification; by use of inflammatory and off-topic messages. These

concepts and terms are beneficial to review for this topic before looking at how hate raids and

trolling can be minimized in the world of digital marketing branding.

A negative review can cause a butterfly effect where the spread of information

continues to get more extreme in a way that hurts a brand’s reputation. Reading online reviews

provides a convenience to help make purchase decisions; getting both positive and negative

perspectives gives people insight on what to do with their money. Seeing an abundance of

positive reviews can be a sign of either an excellent product or potentially fake reviews.

Negative reviews, however, can entail either a product to avoid or a victim of destructive

criticism. Providing information to others without first validating or having an understanding of

it leans into the territory of misinformation. According to a study by Bettina Lis and Maximilian

Fischer, “It has been empirically proven that negative eWOM might has a negative influence on

product attitude. However, the findings do not imply that a general danger can be assumed

automatically” (2020, p. 10). They point out that negative reviews can negatively affect a brand,

but the readers must differentiate between an unconstructive review and one with constructive

feedback before passing off opinions of products. Although it is not a new concept,

misinformation has played more of a pivotal role in dissolving the trust that people have

towards everything. Products, government, and fellow citizens are all subject to bias with little

to no credible information.
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Lack of perspective creates unjustified biases that allow negativity to sway emotions and

deter others from participating on social media, as well as demoralizing and negatively affecting

a person’s mental wellbeing. Digital companies are weary of the information they put out to the

public as backlash seems to lurk around every corner of the internet. In some cases, peoples’

opinions online can be easily swayed due to only reading article headlines and not taking time

to read the specifics about certain situations. Stephanie Burns (2019) emphasizes that backlash

is often not about the person who is being criticized, but a problem that the criticizer is dealing

with. She stated, “Every single human lives with a different perceptual filter . . . we must

remember that almost every time someone criticizes, it’s about THEM—not about you” (Burns,

2019). As the evidence here supports, it is important for consumers to remain calm in the heat

of negativity which is a great way to diffuse a bad situation, especially when internet trolls make

their attempt to bring everyone down.

Both corporate and personal brands have another threat to face online of the internet

troll. Although live streaming has been a great new way for people to build personal brands,

express their individuality, entertain, and interact with their community, here in lies another

opportunity for trolls to enter and disrupt the experience due to there being no limit to the

number of people who may be in a chat. Those who are familiar with streaming know that chat

is as unpredictable as it is sincere, and so having many people talking at once is both chaotic

and lively, making up what is essentially a digital mosh pit. One or a few trolls are easy to deal

with, but a raid of trolls is difficult to contend against, which can create a potentially damaging

hate raid for a digital company. This disruptive behavior can spread disingenuous information

toward people and brands, damaging their reputation. There is not much that can be done to
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avoid internet trolling, but Elise Moreau (2020) stated it is better to ignore a troll to save

oneself from emotional anguish potentially causing the troll to be more hurt emotionally than

the person they are trying to insult. Eventually, most trolls get bored or move on to the next

person. Digital companies are; however, having increased success using IP bans to prevent trolls

on their platforms, which blocks them from to access to the platform from the same computer.

The issue of cancel culture is also having a negative impact on digital platforms as many

have received unwarranted backlash. What may seem to be a mob gunning for a brand’s

removal can also be seen as individuals banding together to remove toxic behavior. As brands

are now under a microscope more than ever, Dantas et al. (2018) suggest brands must carefully

choose how to interact with the public on social platforms. They insist that brands use a human

voice for providing services with pleasurable contexts like bookstores or travel agencies, and a

corporate voice when dealing with highly involved services such as medical or financial services.

This tactic ensures consistent and proper tone for consumers to understand brand intentions

and relationships, mitigating potential backlash.

Additionally, it is important for digital companies to convey appropriate tone of voice to

help consumers better understand the context of situations online. In their study, authors Fayez

Ahmad and Francisco Guzmán found that “accommodative responses from the service provider

are more effective in deterring the effect of a negative online review on brand equity” (2021, p.

1). The authors imply in this point that consumers respond well to a business that takes the

time to listen and try to help with customer concerns. This tactic ensures consistent and proper

tone for consumers to understand brand intentions and relationships, mitigating potential

backlash. In a recent Journal of Interactive Marketing article, Barcelos et al. (2018) explain the
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use of different tones of voice through social media impact consumer responses. While there

are some digital companies that decide to use a corporate tone with their customers, there are

others that prefer the use of a more human tone with their audience. Although some

newcomers to a digital company may misinterpret a personable tone as if they are left out of an

inside joke, understanding the context of the tone enlightens them about a company’s

authenticity. With social media at its peak, if a company fails to provide the appropriate tone or

a consumer fails to interpret the tone used, the company may be subject to a backlash in the

court of public opinion.

Social media brands have recently turned to fact-checking as one strategy to mitigate

misinformation, but many people are still skeptical of its validity. Fortunately, digital platforms

today are still working diligently to find new ways to deter the spread of false information.

Danielle Caled and Mário J. Silva observed that “Misinformation indicators are designed to

provide consumers with insights on the quality of the news, so that consumers can decide by

themselves whether to trust on it” (2021, p. 17). While brands are making technological and

sociological strides to prevent misinformation, it is the consumer’s responsibility to read and

understand the context of information instead of letting someone else decide for them. It is

understandable to adopt a standpoint upon reading negative reviews on any platform; in the

case of false information, there is no justification for a falsely biased perspective.

Social media platforms need to set preventative measures to act against inappropriate

behavior. In her article, Archana Chowty discussed, “To handle negativity, have a dedicated,

trained team or individual who knows how to conduct in public spaces and manage the brand

image” (2018). Designate positions responsible for communicating with the public about brand
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intentions and protecting the brand’s reputation when faced with negative backlash. Having a

team in place to manage and strategize against negativity is a great way to maintain brand

equity and deter people from creating a toxic environment.

As the internet continues to grow, volatility can be expected to grow along with it. As

more and more people support digital brands, more bad actors come into the fray. Fortunately,

digital media is expanding the conversation on how to tackle negativity online. Social media

platforms are taking a closer look at differentiating genuine and toxic behavior, and the users

on those platforms are making their voices heard on areas to improve as a collaborative effort.

Upgrading algorithms, choosing the correct speaking tone, and taking a stance alongside their

audience are the best courses of action for digital media brands to take as they move towards a

more positive future. Problems like spreading misinformation, negative reviews and trolling will

not be solved overnight, but understanding how not to act is the best way for digital media

brands to remain reputable and create a positive environment online. If everyone put minimal

effort towards mitigating online negativity, the internet can be a safer and more creative

environment than it ever has been before.

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References

Note that all sources are double-spaced, with the second line and any line after in each citation
indented or tabbed once with the tab set to .5” and in alphabetical order by the first last name
of the author in the list that is highest in the alphabet, ordering the entire list in this way. See
“APA Documentation Revisited” in the Week 6 folder for help with formatting.

Ahmad, F., & Guzmán, F. (2021). Negative online reviews, brand equity and emotional

contagion. European Journal of Marketing, 55(11), 2825–2870.

https://doi.org/10.1108/ejm-10-2019-0820

Barcelos, R. H., Dantas, D. C., & Sénécal, S. (2018). Watch your tone: How a brand’s tone of

voice on social media influences consumer responses. Journal of Interactive Marketing,

41, 60–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2017.10.001

Burns, S. (2019, December 10). How to survive a social media backlash. Forbes.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephanieburns/2019/12/10/how-to-survive-a-social-

media-backlash/?sh=261a50fb461d

Caled, D., & Silva, M. J. (2021). Digital media and misinformation: An outlook on

multidisciplinary strategies against manipulation. Journal of Computational Social

Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42001-021-00118-8

Chowty, A. (2018, October 26). How to avoid social media backlash in 5 simple ways? Medium.

https://medium.com/nyc-design/how-to-avoid-social-media-backlash-in-5-simple-ways-

f47ad97f73e4
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Lis, B., & Fischer, M. (2020). Analyzing different types of negative online consumer reviews.

Journal of Product & Brand Management, 29(5), 637–653.

https://doi.org/10.1108/jpbm-05-2018-1876