Fake news and brand management: a Delphi study of impact, vulnerability and mitigation
| Published date | 22 August 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-12-2018-2156 |
| Date | 22 August 2019 |
| Pages | 246-254 |
| Author | Andrew Flostrand,Leyland Pitt,Jan Kietzmann |
| Subject Matter | Marketing |
Fake news and brand management: a Delphi
study of impact, vulnerability and mitigation
Andrew Flostrand
Department of Industrial Marketing, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden and Beedie School of Business,
Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada, and
Leyland Pitt and Jan Kietzmann
Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada
Abstract
Purpose –Fake news is presently one of the most discussed phenomena in politics, social life and the world of business. This paper aims to report
the aggregated opinions of 42 brand management academics on the level of threat to, the involvement of, and the available actions of brand
managers resulting from fake news.
Design/methodology/approach –A Delphi study of 42 academics with peer-reviewed publications in the brand management domain.
Findings –The study found that on some dimensions (e.g. the culpability of brand managers for incentivizing fake news by sponsoring its sources),
expert opinion varied greatly. Other dimensions (e.g. whether the impact of fake news on brand management is incr easing) reached a high level of
consensus. The general findings indicate that fake news is an increasing phenomenon. Service brands are most at risk, but brand management
generally is need of improving or implementing, fake news mitigation strategies.
Research limitations/implications –Widely diverse opinions revealed the need for conclusive research on the questions of: whether brands suffer
damage from sponsoring fake news, whether fake news production is supported by advertising and whether more extensive use of internet
facilitated direct interactions with the public through crowdsourcing increased vulnerability.
Practical implications –Experts agreed that practitioners must become more adept with contemporary tools such as fake news site blacklists, and
much more aware of identifying and mitigating the brand vulnerabilities to fake news.
Social implications –A noteworthy breadth of expert opinion was revealed as to whether embellished or fabricated brand narratives can be read
as fake news, inviting the question as to whether brands now be held to higher standards of communication integrity.
Originality/value –This paper provides a broad-shallow exploratory overview of the professional opinions of a large international panel of brand
management academics on how the recent arrival of industrial fake news does, and will, impact this field.
Keywords Brand communication, Social media, Brand image, Social marketing, Brand management, Integrated marketing communications,
Delphi study, Fake news, Corporate image
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
“How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and how hardit is
to undo that work again!”wrote Mark Twain (2013,p.57)in
his 1906 autobiography.This statement goes to the core of how
fake news not only works but also presents a significant
challenge to those trying to protect themselves or their assets,
from its harmful impacts.The speed of mass communication in
Twain’s era was limited by technology to the combination of
the printing press, and the physical circulation of newspapers
along with word-of-mouth.By noting his observation with such
eloquence in 1906, one can take away that this resiliency
property of lies is neither not new today, and nor was it then.
The factor that makes the spread of false information in the
present era noteworthy is the medium of the internet where
mass data storage and transmission share the volume, velocity
variability and veracity properties of “big data”(Vargo et al.,
2018).
1.1 Fake news and brands
Where Twain used the term “alie,”the statement holds true
when substituting the more specificterm“fake news,”which
Lazer et al. (2018) have defined as fabricated information that
mimics news media content in form but not in organizational
process or intent. While fake news has undoubtedly existed in
varying forms throughout history, it has become increasingly
insidious as media have developedover the ages.
Recently, psychologists have also given attention to fake
news, and their findings have relevance to brandsand how they
are managed. Defining fake news as entirely fabricated and
often partisan content, Pennycook et al. (2018) show that
fluency via prior exposure is a psychological mechanism that
Thecurrentissueandfulltextarchiveofthisjournalisavailableon
Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/1061-0421.htm
Journal of Product & Brand Management
29/2 (2020) 246–254
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/JPBM-12-2018-2156]
Received 5 December 2018
Revised 29 December 2018
9 April 2019
17 July 2019
Accepted 18 July 2019
246
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