Abstract: Nowadays, brand negative publicity tends to happen more frequently and more severely. It causes detrimental effect on brand equity and brand evaluation not only of the affected brand but also of other related brands. Recently, there has been growing interest in the concept of "spillover effect," which refers to the phenomenon in which information influences beliefs that are not directly addressed in a communication. Spillover effect of brand negative publicity refers that negative publicity can transfer consumers’ negative perceptions and attitudes to its brand portfolios or alliance, its competitors or categories and even its original country. Since spillover of brand negative publicity is of great importance to brand crisis management, it has been studied for a long time and attracted much attention in field of consumer psychology. In current study, we attempt to depict a holistic view on the theoretical background of brand negative publicity spillover effect and specifically concentrate on its underlying mechanisms, its influencing factors, and strategies for brands and government to diminish its detrimental effect. Given this, first, we classify spillover effect of brand negative publicity into three categories, which should be originally proposed in this research. They are spillover effect (1) within brand portfolios or brand alliance, (2) on competing brand and the industry, and (3) on its original country and other brands/products in this country. According to this classification, we fully analyze the influencing factors of brand-level, event-level, individual-level or country-level with regard to each category. More significantly, we investigated recent studies on how brand negative publicity spills over to its original country image and other related brands in this country for the first time. Second, we review the extant literatures related to the spillover effect and explain its underlying mechanism by introducing Accessibility-Diagnosticity Framework, Categorization Theory, Associative Network Theory and Assimilation-Contrast Effect. By conducting the integration and comparison analysis of these mechanisms, we also discuss the similarities and differentiations of these mechanisms in explanatory power. Furthermore, we examine the literature on response strategies of both company and government which is a critical factor affecting consumer’s attitude towards the brand implicated by spillover effect. It is proposed that the effectiveness of some strategies is equivocal to reduce spillover effect, since some scholars argue that they will result in boomerang effects. However, when consumers are primed to think about differentiation among brands, the brand scandal will be isolated. Therefore, the adverse consequences of brand negative publicity are unlikely to spill over to its competitors. Base on the critical review of prior research, we not only clarify the theoretical development of spillover effect but also make practical recommendations on brand crisis management. Additionally, we propose some future research directions for researchers and managers. First, future research could further explore theoretical mechanism of spillover effect. Second, future research could explore the impact of individual difference in spillover effects from brand portfolio or alliance and country-of-origin image. Third, future research could examine the spillover effect on other stakeholders, such as suppliers in upstream and downstream of the supply chain.

Key words: brand negative publicity, brand crisis, spillover effect, brand management, response strategy

摘要： 文章通过对品牌负面事件溢出效应文献的系统梳理，提出了目前研究主要从品牌组合或品牌联盟内部、竞争品牌或品类、品牌原产国及该国其他品牌三个视角出发展开，并据此详细解读了基于这三种视角的溢出效应的影响因素。文章还进一步对溢出效应的产生机制以及应对策略相关文献加以述评，进而提出未来研究的发展方向。

关键词: 品牌负面事件, 品牌危机, 溢出效应, 危机管理, 应对策略