When partners divorce: understanding consumers’ reactions to partnership termination in cause-related marketing programs

Cause-related marketing (CRM) is a pervasive, global marketing tactic used to aid consumer persuasion. While considerable academic research has been directed to understanding this practice and its impact on consumers, virtually nothing is known about the effect on consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions when a sponsoring firm terminates a CRM partnership. To address this knowledge gap, two experiments with samples of adult North American consumers were conducted. Study 1’s findings suggest that the termination of a CRM partnership has a negative, direct effect on both brand perceptions and purchase intentions. Results also suggest that the impact is lessened (but not overcome) if the sponsoring firm switches its support to a new cause, regardless of the levels of fit between the brand and cause. In Study 2, when an altruistic reason was used to motivate the termination, consumers responded more positively when the decision was made solely by the sponsoring firm than when it was made mutually by the sponsoring firm and the cause. However, when the decision to terminate the partnership was motivated by an operational reason, consumers responded better when the decision was made mutually.