Black-owned business and passionate brand publics: A netnography of The Honey Pot Company PR crisis

Abstract

This study uses a netnography approach to explore why brand publics engage in passionate discourse about a Black-owned business on social media, especially during a crisis. It analyzes 2463 comments posted in response to an Instagram video statement shared by the Black founder and CEO of the Honey Pot Company during a 2022 crisis. The findings reveal that Honey Pot’s most vocal brand publics were Black women and members of the broader Black community. Their passionate engagement is rooted in several factors: 1) a belief that the products were made specifically for them using high-quality natural ingredients, 2) a commitment to supporting Black-owned businesses and ethnic solidarity, 3) deep-seated fears and historical trauma associated with harmful products marketed to the Black community, and 4) a need to hold individuals accountable. Based on the analysis, this unique study reveals four key drivers of passion: product-based passion, identity-based passion, historical trauma-based passion, and accountability-based passion. The study contributes to the public relations literature on passionate publics by illustrating how Honey Pot’s brand publics formed a passionate online community to call for accountability, express ethnic solidarity, and advocate for change.