ABSTRACT
Consumers develop committed and meaningful relationships with brands, yet still sometimes buy or use options that compete directly with these relationship partners. The major predictors of infidelity can be categorized into three groups: relational, individual, and situational/contextual. Research on human relationships defines infidelity as a sexual and/or emotional act engaged in by one person within a committed relationship where such an act occurs outside of the primary relationship and constitutes a breach of trust and/or violation of agreed upon norms. The involvement of a third party can, to some extent, protect against emotional and behavioral cheating, and reinforce a focal brand's special status as having a 'right of first refusal'. For certain consumers, brands are a means to an end and help to facilitate important interpersonal relationships. Such triadic consumer-brand relationships are guided by expectations of monogamy, while dyadic relationships are ends to themselves.
