IMPACT OF POLITICAL POLARIZATION BASED ON ETHNICITY AND RELIGION ON BRAND IMAGE AND REPUTATION: APPROACH OF CONSUMER'S IN TURKEY TO TRADEMARKS ASSOCIATED WITH JUDAISM

Abstract

The main reason why the businesses want to create psychologicaldifferences rather than physical or functional differences is theexistence of many companies providing similar products and services inthe market. Provision of products and services exceeding the requestsand needs of clientele, similarity of each and every one of them witheach other both physically and functionally, the requirement of sellingthem due to inventory and other different costs have made it compulsoryto emphasize on establishing psychological bonds between such products,and the consumers. The brands, over time, have begun to be employed withsymbolic purposes in addition to their physical or functional propertiesby differentiating from each other with an eye to gain competitiveadvantage and establish psychological bonds with consumers. Theconsumers receive help from the brands they consume in creating socialidentity. In this sense, brands act as a kind of social passport. In ourday it is not possible to examine brands separately from theirpsychological, political, social and cultural dimensions. To understandthe variables of brands such as class and status in terms of sociology;groups and ethnic origin in terms of politics; motivations and habits interms of psychology and pleasure and meaning in terms of anthropologymore than the price and functions of brands plays an important role increating the image and reputation of the desired brand. For, theconsumers also consume the meanings offered by the brands in addition tobrands themselves. In this study, it is researched how brands create animpact on the brand image and reputation by the effect of ethnic andreligious origins, the political developments in the world and politicaland social structures in the society they exist. As such, the impact ofthe Israel and Jewish originated global brands-due to the Israel's beingthe leading actor of the Palestinian-Israeli war- on Turkish consumersis researched and discussed.