PROCEEDING INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS CONFERENCE (IBEC)
Vol. 4 No. 1 (2025): Inspiring Change: Innovating Together for the Future of the Economy

From Embarrassment to Brand Hate: A Netnography of Negative Emotions, Detachment, and Consumer Arrogance in Foreign F&B in Aceh

Utami, Sorayanti (Unknown)
Siregar, M. Ridha (Unknown)
Halim, Hendra (Unknown)



Article Info

Publish Date
22 Dec 2025

Abstract

This study examines how brand embarrassment escalates into detachment and hate among Acehnese consumers toward foreign F&B brands perceived to be affiliated with Israel. Using qualitative netnography, we observed public discourse across Instagram, TikTok, X, Facebook, YouTube, Google Maps reviews, and food-delivery apps from July 2024 to August 2025. The corpus comprised 512 discourse units and eight focal incidents; 378 units explicitly invoked geopolitical ties. Event-centered coding shows primary triggers were geopolitical affiliation/solidarity (41.3%) and corporate stance/donation controversies (16.1%), followed by service humiliation (19.6%), status threat/face loss (10.3%), and pricing opacity (7.7%); halal-certification uncertainty appeared mainly as a secondary co-argument (12.2% of the geopolitical subset). Embarrassment—direct (in-store) or vicarious (online)—was typically followed by early detachment (unfollow/avoidance/switching within <48 hours) and, when coupled with moralized framing and slow/defensive corporate replies, escalated into brand hate with boycott calls (71.8% of geopolitical-triggered units). Consumer entitlement cues (16.4%) acted as an escalator, prolonging threads. Fast, empathic responses and clear statements about local franchise autonomy shortened escalation. The study contributes an episode-based process model and offers a practical playbook for risk monitoring and recovery in value-sensitive markets.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

IBEC

Publisher

Subject

Education Other

Description

Eka Prasetya College of Economics (STIE) has created an international conference program since 2022, where this international conference program is useful to facilitate the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and experiences between participants such as students and lecturers. In addition, this conference ...