And sometimes even more…
We’ve all done it: used the L-word in reference to a certain favorite brand. The common assumption is when we say “I love Coke” (or whatever product we fancy), we’re using love as a lazy stand-in for whatever true, presumably lesser emotion we’re feeling—“contributing to the trivialization of the word,” as Don Draper once vented. But what if consumers who say they love a brand actually mean it with the same emotional intensity they do when referring to a beloved person?