The online marketplace Public Square has attracted consumers to the platform with a promise to promote only “woke-free” brands. Other consumers have flocked to Costco, a company that’s reaffirmed its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Indeed, says Lin Zhao, Ph.D., assistant professor of marketing in Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Business, there’s a strong body of research indicating that as ideological divides have grown in recent decades, consumers want to know where brands stand on sociopolitical issues. Increasingly, they’re choosing to purchase from brands with sociopolitical values that align with their own.

But that’s when consumers spend money on themselves, Zhao says. Less clear — until now, that is — is the consumer-brand value alignment relationship when consumers spend their money on other people. That’s the twist that interested Zhao and two colleagues. Their paper, “Recipient-brand value misalignment: How corporate sociopolitical activism reshapes gift giving decisions,” has been published in Journal of Business Research.  

Zhao calls gift-giving an important arena to study because the global gift industry is valued at almost $73 billion annually. For Valentine’s Day alone, according to the National Retail Federation, jewelry sales are expected to reach $6.5 billion.

“Gift-purchase decisions can have major implications for brands,” says Zhao, who’s been quoted on consumer-brand value alignment in U.S. News and World Report.

For their paper, Zhao and her colleagues conducted studies employing two hot-button issues: gun ownership and abortion rights. They found that when givers and receivers have different sociopolitical values, givers are less likely to purchase brands that align with their own values. Instead, they choose brands that are considered neutral or apolitical.

However, “when the recipient and the brand values align, givers who share those same values are significantly more likely to choose the aligned brand over a neutral alternative,” she said.

“It can be tricky because when we give gifts, it’s like an extension of ourselves,” Zhao said. “We don’t want to buy something that’s completely against our values because we don’t want to be seen as hypocrites. But we also don’t want to potentially offend the recipient by choosing a brand that’s at odds with their values.”

Zhao’s work on brand activism aims to help brands better communicate their sociopolitical beliefs, improve consumer well-being and destigmatize marginalized social groups. She also explores the impact of brand activism on consumer-brand interactions and brand performance and identifies the risks as well as opportunities of brand activism in the B2C — or business-to-consumer — context.

Zhao noted that her recent study has relevance in her own life. “I’ve faced situations where I’m buying a gift for someone who has different values than I do, she said. “We see issues from different viewpoints, but that doesn’t mean we can’t connect in a meaningful way.”