Managing Brand Crises in the Age of Cyber Violence: Ethical Strategies and Consumer Moral Cognition

Abstract

In the digital age dominated by social media, disputes over user value have become the core trigger point of brand crises. When brand behavior touches upon morally sensitive issues and triggers a brand crisis, users' discussions are very likely to escalate into cyber violence. This kind of behavior not only spreads geometrically through the amplification effect of social communication but also poses multiple threats to the brand: damage to reputation assets (such as the collapse of trust), direct financial losses (such as a sharp drop in sales), and weakening of long-term competitiveness (such as the loss of users). In the face of such crises, the choice of a brand's response strategy will directly affect consumers' feelings towards the brand as well as their future purchase decisions and loyalty. This article systematically analyzes the mechanism by which different strategies affect consumers' moral cognition, reveals the intrinsic reasons for their influence on purchasing behavior, and thereby provides theoretical and practical strategies for brands to build ethically oriented crisis response models.