ABSTRACT
Most accept the premise that consumers desire brands and become devoted to them for reasons beyond functional performance. The idea that brands have symbolic value (Levy 1959; Solomon 1983), may contain deep meaning (Belk, Wallendorf, and Sherry 1989; Kleine, Kleine, and Allen 1995; McCracken 1986), foster community (Muñiz and O’Guinn 2001), or provide emotional value and self-enhancement versus functional benefits (Aaker 1991; Keller 2003) is well established in consumer research. Still, the nature of the bonds consumers form with brands remains enigmatic. It is common to find frustration expressed with extant theories and methods that promise an understanding of the quality of consumers’ emotional attachments to brands (e.g. Brown 2005; Holt 2003; Zaltman 2003).
