Exploring Consumer Resistance to Digital Marketing Tactics and Technology

Dear Colleagues,

Organisations are progressively transitioning their consumer influence paradigms from traditional marketing tactics towards highly sophisticated, digitally driven, and artificial intelligence (AI)-based tactics. This shift is demonstrated by substantial financial allocation, e.g., £28.7 billion (in the UK) for digital marketing expenditure in 2024 (Inspire, 2024). Globally, decision-makers plan to increase their budget by 27% for digital experience, i.e., the technology category (Forrester, 2025).  The rapid evolution of data analytics and AI technologies necessitates a fundamental re-engineering of customer engagement models, making AI adoption a critical priority that must preserve consumer trust, as affirmed by 68% of consumers (Salesforce, 2025).

Additionally, to mitigate scepticism and enhance brand image, organisations strategically incorporate ethics and social good through CSR and specialised green marketing mixes (Suparjo & Dana, 2024; Aldaihani, Islam, Saatchi & Haque, 2024), while intensifying investment in content marketing and influencer strategies (CreatorIQ, 2025), including human and AI endorsers (Pan, Blut, Ghiassaleh & Lee, 2025; Feng, Chen & Xie, 2024), and leveraging engaging prosumer-generated content (Malodia, Filieri, Otterbring & Dhir, 2024). More recently, companies are prioritising a digital orientation and value creation to enhance consumer experiences and strengthen their overall brand competitiveness (Manjunath, Padigar & Pedada, 2024). However, for these strategies to maintain influence, compliance is essential. Organisations are strategically adapting their business models to comply with global consumer data protection laws, such as the GDPR, to manage risks and retain consumer trust (Farhad, 2024).

Against these efforts, consumer responses to contemporary marketing are complex, involving both engagement and scepticism across various channels. Traditional advertising frequently encounters consumer resistance, where individuals actively employ strategies to counter persuasive attempts (Fransen, Verlegh, Kirmani & Smit, 2015). Consumers react positively to green strategies, such as green products and promotions, which boost green purchase intention (Aldaihani, Islam, Saatchi & Haque, 2024). However, they severely punish greenwashing practices, leading to a damaged brand image due to perceived deception or unethical actions (Bladt, van Capelleveen, and Yazan, 2023). Similarly, adverse reactions to dynamic pricing lead to price confusion and perceptions of price unfairness, thereby significantly increasing the intention to spread negative word of mouth (WOM) (Bambauer-Sachse & Young, 2024). Consumers are also reacting to AI marketing. Responses to AI tactics are twofold: while AI-driven personalisation can generate trust and perceived usefulness, positively impacting consumer engagement (Teepapal, 2025; Bhuiyan, 2024), it may also engender adverse effects like privacy concerns, perceived risks, and consumer alienation (Barari, Ferm, Quach, Thaichon & Ngo, 2023). Furthermore, attempting to humanise AI with conversational fillers like "hmm" can backfire by triggering suspicion of unknown motives and decreasing purchase intentions (Liu, Liu & Zhu, 2025). Also, both human and AI influencers are effective, with human influencer characteristics (such as communication) strongly influencing purchase behavior and follower characteristics (such as social identity) driving engagement [Pan, Blut, Ghiassaleh & Lee, 2025]. Yet, AI influencers face difficulties as consumer robophobia and a perceived lack of authenticity may limit trust and acceptance in commercial contexts (Feng, Chen & Xie, 2024).

Consumer resistance to marketing tactics and technologies could undermine brand reputation, hinder sales, and lead to significant negative consequences, such as damaged brand equity, reduced financial returns, and the proliferation of adverse information. It could also generate a feeling of deception and broken promises (Bladt, van Capelleveen & Yazan, 2023).  Resistance to advertising causes the entire marketing investment to fail, as consumers actively employ strategies to counter the persuasive message (Fransen, Verlegh, Kirmani & Smit, 2015). In digital domains, the "dark side of AI" results in negative effects on customers' cognitive, affective, and behavioural responses (Barari, Ferm, Quach, Thaichon & Ngo, 2023), specifically, leading to a decline in trust and satisfaction, and feelings of customer alienation and uniqueness neglect (Barari, Ferm, Quach, Thaichon & Ngo, 2023). Furthermore, misperceived AI tactics trigger consumer suspicion of ulterior motives, which directly translates into a decrease in purchase intentions (Liu, Liu & Zhu, 2025).

Against this context, it is essential to further the understanding of consumer resistance to marketing tactics and technologies. Specifically, how consumers respond to marketing tactics and interact with new technologies, particularly AI, and how firms can ethically and effectively manage complex social and commercial dynamics. Future research should prioritise a deeper understanding of consumer resistance in the evolving marketing,  technological, and ethical landscape, moving beyond identifying consequences to developing robust mitigation strategies. Also, to overcome consumer resistance and mitigate negative word-of-mouth, marketers must understand current strategies that reduce consumer confusion and perceived unfairness from marketing tactics (Bambauer-Sachse & Young, 2024), so they can design more effective strategies.

Studies are encouraged to empirically test the effectiveness of general counter-resistance mechanisms (Fransen, Verlegh, Kirmani & Smit, 2015) in the current multi-channel digital environment. It is also important to address ethical resistance; future studies are needed on the efficacy of recovery strategies to mitigate the severe, long-term damage to brand attitude caused by greenwashing (Bladt, van Capelleveen & Yazan, 2023). Moreover, revisiting theory is essential to investigate human-technology interaction, for instance, how consumers recognise and cope with AI persuasion tactics such as conversational fillers that trigger suspicion of ulterior motives (Liu, Liu & Zhu, 2025). Concurrently, research must focus on the development of effective strategies for the "dark side of AI", investigating design choices for AI-enhanced personalisation that actively address privacy concerns, perceived risks, and customer alienation to enhance trust and control (Barari, Ferm, Quach, Thaichon & Ngo, 2023; Teepapal, 2025). In relation to social media, an area for exploration is how to overcome the limited trust and acceptance of AI influencers in commercial settings by testing mechanisms like authenticity cues and disclosure (Feng, Chen & Xie, 2024).

This Special Issue aims to advance theoretical, conceptual, and empirical knowledge on the antecedents, processes, and consequences of consumer resistance to marketing tactics and technologies by addressing these identified gaps. We welcome quantitative, qualitative, conceptual, and mixed-methods research that makes a strong theoretical contribution and provides practical insight. All manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review. We particularly encourage submissions that align with the following (but not limited to):

- The attitudinal negative responses to marketing tactics and technologies. For instance, consumers' responses to organisational unethical behaviour (e.g., violations of consumer privacy, corruption, consumer isolation, organisational sustainability practices) diffuse via technologies, e.g., social media platforms.

- The negative consequences of digital technologies, including  AI use in marketing, e.g., AI personalisation, and organisation marketing strategies to counter them.

- Developing and testing mitigation strategies for consumer resistance to marketing tactics and technologies used by the organisation.

- Designing effective brand recovery strategies for ethical failures and managing specific forms of resistance.

- The complexities of social media resistance in a system using both human and AI agents.

- Investigating the antecedents of trust and acceptance in the emerging landscape of AI influencers.

- The consequences of sustained consumer resistance to marketing tactics and technologies.

- Marketing Strategies to overcome the dark side of digital technologies (e.g., AI-powered technologies). For instance, the role of digital technologies in transparency and accountability is a trust-building antecedent.

- The consequences of unethical behaviour and the development of effective recovery strategies.

- Strategies to address confusion and perceived unfairness caused by marketing tactics such as pricing, aiming to reduce the intention to spread negative word-of-mouth.

- Conceptual and empirical work on how consumer resistance impacts a firm’s strategic choices.

Dr. Kaouther Kooli
Dr. Padmi Nagirikandalage
Guest Editors

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• consumer resistance
• consumer scepticism
• consumer confusion
• marketing strategies and tactics
• technology
• sustainability practices
• corporate social responsibility