Brand avoidance among 21st century hipsters

21st century hipsters have been identified as consciously avoiding certain brands. However, little is known about their motives. Thus, this research aims to explore brand avoidance motives among today´s hipsters by means of an abductive research approach with in-depth interviews. The findings can confirm previously identified main avoidance types, namely: experience, identity, moral, and deficit-value avoidance. However, also a new theme has emerged: indirect avoidance, where brands may be avoided due to negative inferences hipsters draw from geographic locations of a store or chosen retail stores to a certain brand. Further, mass marketing and visible logos may amplify the underlying reasons of avoidance. Practical implications for brand managers are discussed