#AdiosStarbucks: a netnographic aproximation of consumer behavior toward foreign brands in Mexico - Working Paper

This research investigates consumer behavior towards American brands in Mexico following a major change in the political environment in the United States. The social media movement #AdiosStarbucks in twitter constitutes an online community created by a consumer initiative in response to diverse actions executed by Donald J. Trump during his first days as president. Using netnography as methodology, more than 30,000 tweets with the #AdiosStarbucks hashtag were analyzed, and ten semi-structured in-depth interviews were realized. Four American brands social media platforms were studied, all of these brands are well established in México and leaders in the fast food, coffee, soft drinks and retail industries. Additionally, in order to explore the potential economic impact of this phenomena, several financial correlations were made between firms’ stock price in Mexican Stock Exchange and #AdiosStarbucks hashtag utilization trends in social media. As part of the findings, the authors recognize three emerging consumer behaviors -nationalism, boycott and cynicism- in four distinct segments of Twitter posters within online community. Additional findings show that brand digital engagement -or disengagement- varies according to the answer speed and content credibility of brand messages facing President Trump communications and postures, either in social media and offline contexts. Overall, the findings of this research contribute to consumer engagement theory in online brand communities and suggest diverse managerial implications related with brand coping strategies within high uncertain political environments.