The Stigmatization Of Status Brand-The Effect Of Relative Deprivation Of Consumers

In today's consumer culture,people's value have changed a lot.Consumers buy goods not only in pursuit of its functional value,sometimes in order to seek a symbolic value.Therefore,many status brands are sought after because of symbolic meanings for consumers' status and identity.However,there also have some different voices,many status brands have suffered from the stigma attack in a wide range of consumer opinions.For example,Moutai and Wuliangye,as China's domestic high-end liquor brands,has been posted "corrupt wine","excessive profits" and other negative labels in the consumer's comments.for many years.Enterprises have been troubled by these negative labels.However,these stigmatize phenomenon of status brands has not received much attention so far,and the research is still blank.We can find the reason of why these brands are stigmatized is not the fault of brands themselves.Therefore,we seem to have reason to believe that the stigmatization of these status brands is associated with the psychological factors of stigma makers.In today's internet,especially social media prevailing conditions,people's interaction of views are more freedom.The general public class has become maker of stigma phenomenon many times,while the upper group has become labeled groups.For example,the "rich second generation" and "brick house"(specialist)are actually stigmatized labels for a particular dominant group.We can find that the stigma makers have a common feature-the jealousy of the dominant group and dissatisfaction with their current state.The stigmatization of status brands is also true,that is because of the psychology of "can not eat grapes to say grapes sour".And what kind of group is more inclined to "say grapes sour",we thinks it's relate to relative deprivation of consumers.Therefore,this study propose the hypothesis:(1)The stronger of consumers'relative deprivation,the easier to tend to stigmatize the status brand.(2)The stronger of consumers' relative deprivation,the more easily to stimulate the perception of status distance between consumers and users of brands.(3)The greater of the perception of status distance between consumers and users,the more likely to cause stigmatization of status brands.(4)The perception of status distance has a mediating role in the interaction between brand status and relative deprivation.(5)Compared with the donation to strong groups,the donation to vulnerable groups can achieve the purpose of de-stignatization.Finally,this paper discusses the theoretical contribution and management enlightenment,and puts formard the shortcomings and future research directions,so as to provide beneficial reference for company's brand image management.