Spillover of Distrust from Domestic to Imported Brands in a Crisis-Sensitized Market

Spillover of distrust from domestic brands to foreign brands during an industry-wide scandal is an important but overlooked issue in the international marketing domain. Drawing on assimilation/contrast and attribution theories, the authors develop a general model of trust erosion in a multibrand product-harm crisis involving three brand categories: focal (domestic) brands, contrasting (imported) brands, and hybrid (manufactured domestically but with foreign brand names) brands. Assimilative associations in an epidemic-like crisis erode trust throughout the entire product category, whereas contrastive associations protect or even benefit a competing brand category from the brand damage. A survey of 2,156 consumers in nine metropolitan centers in China measured trust in brands of dairy products after the 2008 milk contamination crisis. This study reveals the roles of category distinctness, focal versus contrasting categories, category hybridity, brand prototypicality, perceived crisis severity, and perceived category typicality in moderating the assimilation/contrast effects in such a crisis. These findings have important managerial implications: international marketers should be wary of the risks in having their brand associated with products manufactured domestically in a market such as China.