Arlie Abraam 4/1/26
Rare VS Rhode
Rare Beauty is a beauty brand founded by Selena Gomez. Rhode is another popular beauty brand founded by Hailey Bieber. The beauty industry is already extremely competitive and saturated with celebrity brands.
Both brands utilize social media to market their products and reach their target audience. Fans of both Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber have pitted the two women against each other due to their dating history. Even though the reason does not relate to either brand, fans are so loyal to these founders people refuse to buy from one or the other. Neither celebrity has encouraged this behavior by fans, which proves how loyal consumers can be simply based on who is the face of the company.
Competitor Praise & Quick Judgements
Competitor praise can be as simple as a company congratulating another company on a milestone anniversary. Having a positive attitude towards your competitors makes you seem sportsmanlike and not a sore loser. It shows your customers you can be warm and friendly. Large companies can often seem cold, cutthroat, and impersonal to consumers. Therefore, seeing large corporations acknowledge each other’s successes can humanize a company.
Seeing companies comment on TikTok has become more popular. These companies do praise each other or have fun banter in the comment section for consumers to see or further publicize. For example, Duolingo did a publicity stunt where the mascot died. A lot of major brands commented on the TikTok videos about the “death” and said favorable things about the brand. Short comments allow consumers to make quick judgments on the brand. This is an example of the thin-slice theory, where consumers decide how they perceive a brand based on little content. Commenting as if the brand is in on the joke can make the consumer feel like the brand is more relatable.
When a company shows a positive attitude towards competitors, they seem less greedy to consumers. For example, Harvard Business discusses how consumers might appreciate a nicer tone in a competitive world, such as the New York Times, encouraging readers to be open to other trusted news sources. This doesn’t mean consumers will never read the New York Times again, but it does create brand trust and loyalty. The New York Times is giving readers a suggestion and acknowledging that they are not the only new source with reliable information.
Citations
Balas, B., Kanwisher, N., & Saxe, R. (2012). Thin-slice perception develops slowly. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 112(2), 257–264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2012.01.002
Cutright, K. M., Du, K. M., & Zhou, L. (2022, March 24). Research: When Praising the Competition Benefits Your Brand. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2022/03/research-when-praising-the-competition-benefits-your-brand
Peracchio, L. A., & Luna, D. (2006). The Role of Thin-Slice Judgments in Consumer Psychology. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 16(1), 25–32. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327663jcp1601_5
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