Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore ethical consumers' brand avoidance. The study contributes to brand-avoidance research by exploring what role consumers' ethical concerns play in their brand avoidance. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative approach is adopted by interviewing 15 active members of organizations that represent ethical concerns for the well-being of animals, the environment and humans. Findings – The study indicates that consumers with a strong value-based perspective on consumption (such as ethical consumers) may reject brands in two different but interrelated ways. In essence, the study reveals characteristics of brand avoidance that have not been discussed in earlier research, in terms of two dimensions: persistency (persistent vs temporary) and explicitness (explicit vs latent). Practical implications – The study shows the importance of considering the phenomenon of brand avoidance, as it may reveal fundamental challenges in the market. These challenges may relate to consumer values that have not been regarded as important or that have been thought of as relating only to a specific group of consumers. Originality/value – The ethical consumers' views represent new insights into understanding brand avoidance.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of inputs from consumers' past experiences of a company on their current image-construction processes, in the context of non-food retailing. Design/methodology/approach -Research data were collected by a multi-method combination of several different qualitative research methods from individuals selected by the theoretical sampling procedure. Analysis and interpretation conformed to a classic grounded theory approach. Findings -It was found that consumer images generated by relevant past experience are a direct and influential input into real-time corporate image formation. Two new theoretical concepts were identified, "image heritage" and "image-in-use", respectively, distinguishing consumers' past-based images from those they construct in real time. Image heritage is moderated by three principal variables: timespan of awareness, content of earlier experiences, and key temporal focus. Research limitations/implications -This study focused on the corporate image of non-food retailers. Future research should broaden the context, to enhance understanding of image heritage and image-in-use, and yield useful conceptual generalisations. Practical implications -Given that the consumer's view of the company's past plays an important role in their interpretation of its present corporate brand, branding strategy should be informed by a systematic effort to identify the probable components of that historical perception. Originality/value -This study is the first to focus on the influence of the past on consumers' current corporate images. The constructs identified and the terminology novel, offering a radically new dimension to corporate image research.

is an associate professor at Oslo School of Management, Norway. He holds a Dr Oecon (PhD) at Norwegian School of Management BI. He has a background as an entrepreneur and from management and board positions within telecommunication industry. His research agenda consists of various subjects within inter-fi rm relationships, such as: governance of foreign collaborative partners, co-ordination and cooperation, relationship management, relationship quality and relationship climate. Anders Billstr ö mis a doctoral student at Halmstad University, Sweden. His research interest include business-to-business relationships. ABSTRACT This article develops a conceptual foundation for Conscientious Corporate Brands (CCBs) by exploring the role that (i) environmental and (ii) climate change issues, and that (iii) internal and (iv) external corporate codes of ethics play as dimensions of CCBs. The article ' s aim is to extend previous research in ethical branding by proposing an empirically grounded conceptual foundation of ' the conscientious dimension ' of a corporate brand. The empirical context is based onNordic business-to-business relationships.

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Purpose -The present paper seeks to analyse the role of brand images in consumer practices for uncovering brand strength. Design/methodology/approach -By employing a qualitative approach, data are analysed based on three elements that constitute the practices: objects (what tools or resources are required in the practice), images involved, and competences (what competences does the practice require). Findings -The authors suggest practices as an additional unit of analysis for understanding brand strength based on image. Towards this end, the paper identifies and systematically categorises consumer practices and proposes that consumers develop novel and personal practices related to brands. The findings reveal embedded brand strength in mundane, routinised practices. Originality/value -The paper presents a novel approach for understanding the past (image heritage) and current (image-in-use) dimensions of brand images and their embeddedness in consumer practices.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to further understanding of the roles that time and context play in consumers’ evolving brand image construction processes over time. Design/methodology/approach – This exploratory, qualitative research is based on the analysis and interpretation of 164 online consumer narratives pertaining to the consumers’ most memorable coffee moments. Findings – Consumers build images of a brand through both fleeting moments over time linked to special occasions and everyday moments in their lives over time. Understanding image construction processes thus must go beyond just physical (location) and psychological (social) circumstances. Activity processes (“When I am doing […]”) also are central to this understanding. Research limitations/implications – Time and context emerge as key determinants of consumers’ brand image processes and should hence be explicitly recognised in branding research. This study focuses only on brand admirers; because the study context refers to a business-to-consumer product, the focus is the product brand. Practical implications – Considering the key role of memorable past moments (time and context) in consumers’ brand image construction processes, branding strategies should reflect systematic efforts to identify these moments. Such an approach can provide opportunities for companies to deepen their consumer understanding and achieve a favourable presence in consumer contexts during which brand images get constructed. Originality/value – This study identifies key dimensions of time and context and thus furthers understanding of these dimensions in relation to brand images.

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to discuss how corporate brand images evolve in consumers' everyday life and its implications for the company's branding strategies.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual discussion and a framework are presented that maps four alternative views on corporate brand images and market dynamics in relation to corporate branding.FindingsCorporate brand evolution is suggested as a way of including consumers' everyday brand image constructions and re‐constructions in a company's branding strategy. Corporate brand evolution is based on two new concepts: image heritage and image‐in‐use. A model for understanding evolving strategic corporate branding is proposed.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposed view on evolving corporate brands is deliberately developed for understanding open source brand dynamics in ever‐changing markets. This paper is limited to make a conceptual contribution. Therefore, research implications are to develop empirically the understanding of image‐in‐use and image heritage in various business contexts.Practical implicationsAn understanding on how brands evolve over time has two major practical implications for companies. First, companies need to develop new approaches and methods to understanding how brands evolve over time. For example, by investigating the consumer' image heritage of the company. This may enhance considerably possibilities for open branding strategies that meet consumer reality to be developed.Originality/valueThe two new concepts, image heritage and image‐in‐use, and the novel approach of evolving corporate brand images are important as they are based on a new consumer understanding, recognizing that consumers' corporate image constructions are dynamic ever‐changing processes and not static end‐states.