Three evidentiary levels for brand reaction
The words become stronger as the evidence changes. A public split is a reason to investigate, not permission to skip the investigation.
| Level | What is visible | What it can support | What it cannot support |
|---|---|---|---|
| Divergent reactions | Praise, criticism, ambivalence or different readings in public material | A bounded account of how an experience was interpreted | A group structure, prevalence estimate or causal effect |
| Polarized audience | Coherent groups with strong positive and negative positions, plus evidence of identification or opposition | A claim that reactions are organized socially, if sampling and definitions are clear | A validated construct score without measurement |
| Measured polarization | A defined sample, validated instrument, reported dimensions and analysis | A claim about the measured construct in the studied population | Automatic transfer to another platform, period or audience |
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Reference & Evidence
Source: Author's synthesis from the 2023 Roblox study and Osuna Ramírez, Veloutsou and Morgan-Thomas (2024).
Each line is a claim from the register this journal publishes against, resolved from the register at build time.
- B The study is a purposive qualitative case account and not a representative or causal estimate Submitted Isoglu (2023) bachelor thesis, method and limitations ·
SI23-C10 - B The case synthesis describes divergent readings and does not count sentiment or measure a population Submitted Isoglu (2023) bachelor thesis, method audit and article design ·
SI23-C11 - A Brand polarization is defined by strong feeling at both ends rather than by mixed opinion: "polarization maintains strong emotions at both ends of the spectrum, concurrently attending to the antipodes of brand love and brand hate", and as an outcome it is a brand property: "As an outcome, polarization is a property of a brand, where a polarizing brand causes sharp division into opposing groups of individuals" Osuna et al. (2024) ·
OR24-C1 - A The measure is a scale with named dimensions, not a label: "four dimensions and twenty-three items: brand passion (eight items), self-brand benchmarking (five items), intra-group identification (five items) and inter-group dissociation (five items)" Osuna et al. (2024) ·
OR24-C2
Grades: A, verified against the printed page of the primary source · B, primary source, text layer only · C, authoritative secondary · D, reported.