Is Your Brand Protected?

Brand safety refers to the strategies that brands undertake to avoid their advertisements being associated with negative content on the Internet. The current article provides a first look at this practice, through a managerial survey, and then validates advertisers’ concerns through an online experiment. In doing so, the authors provide a formal definition of brand safety and detail the prevalence of brand safety concerns among advertising managers. This study presents evidence that brands are at risk when their advertisements are displayed next to negative content and that consumers’ perceptions of brand equity, attitudinal loyalty, and willingness to pay for a brand decrease.