Brand Hate Detector: An R Shiny Application for Automated Detection and Multilevel Classification of Brand Hate in Consumer Reviews

Authors

Keywords:

Brand Hate, Natural Language Processing, Shiny App, Open Source

Abstract

The Brand Hate Detector is an open-source R Shiny application designed to identify, classify, and visualize brand hate in online consumer reviews. Unlike traditional sentiment analysis tools that reduce feedback to simple positive–negative polarity, the Brand Hate Detector employs a hybrid lexicon-based approach that integrates sentiment polarity, emotion profiling using the NRC Emotion Lexicon, and rule-based classification to capture multiple hate intensity levels. The workflow includes automated scraping of brand-specific reviews from ConsumerAffairs.com, negative sentiment filtering, stopword removal, emotion analysis, and a two-stage classification process that assigns reviews to Mild, Moderate, Strong, or Hybrid hate categories. Results are presented through interactive visualizations, including category distributions, reason-specific breakdowns, emotion word clouds, and sentiment–intensity bubble plots. Designed for transparency, reproducibility, and accessibility, the tool bridges academic theory and managerial practice by providing actionable insights into the drivers and emotional dynamics of consumer hostility toward brands. Its modular architecture also allows future extensions to other review platforms, additional languages, and machine learning–based classification methods.

Keywords : Brand hate, Natural language Processing, Shiny App, Open source.

Author Biography

  • Mohamed Assoud, ISGA Rabat and Hassan First University of Settat, Morocco

    Marketing- Management and Research Methodology Professor at Hassan First University of Settat, Morocco; and Editorial Board Member with a focus on Brand management, Digital Marketing, Consumer Psychology and Behavior. Experienced in designing and delivering innovative courses, mentoring students, and conducting impactful research published in high-ranking journals. Skilled in applying advanced analytical tools and interdisciplinary approaches to solve complex marketing challenges, while contributing to academic discourse through editorial leadership.

References

Albladi, A., Islam, M., & Seals, C. (2025). Sentiment Analysis of Twitter Data Using NLP Models: A Comprehensive Review. IEEE Access, 13, 30444-30468, https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2025.3541494

Assoud, M., & Berbou, L. (2023). Brand Hate: One Decade of Research A Systematic Review. International Journal of Latest Research in Humanities and Social Science, 06(11), 146-165, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5037055

Assoud, M., & Berbou, L. (2025a). Conceptualizing Brand Hate Escalation: A Dual SEM-PLS / Necessary Condition Analysis Approach. African Journal of Human Resources, Marketing and Organisational Studies, 2(1), 55-81, https://hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc-aa_ajhrmos_v2_n1_a4

Assoud, M., & Berbou, L. (2025b). Mapping the Evolution of Brand Hate: A Comprehensive Bibliometric Analysis. Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, 38(1), 21-58, https://www.jcsdcb.com/index.php/JCSDCB/article/view/1086

Fetscherin, M. (2019). The five types of brand hate: How they affect consumer behavior. Journal of Business Research, 101, 116-127, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.04.017

Hegner, S. M., Fetscherin, M., & van Delzen, M. (2017). Determinants and outcomes of brand hate. Journal of Product and Brand Management, 26(1), 13-25, https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-01-2016-1070

Kang, Y., Cai, Z., Tan, C.W., Huang, Q., & Liu, H. (2020). Natural language processing (NLP) in management research: A literature review. Journal of Management Analytics, 7(2), 139-172, https://doi.org/10.1080/23270012.2020.1756939

Kucuk, S. U. (2019). Consumer Brand Hate: Steam rolling whatever I see. Psychology and Marketing, 36(5), 431-443, https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21175

Kucuk, S. U. (2020). Consumer Voice: The Democratization of Consumption Markets in the Digital Age. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53983-2

Lis, B., & Fischer, M. (2020). Analyzing different types of negative online consumer reviews. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 29(5), 637-653, https://doi.org/10.1108/jpbm-05-2018-1876

Mednini, L., Noubigh, Z., & Turki, M. D. (2024). Natural Language Processing for Detecting Brand Hate Speech. Journal of Telecommunications and the Digital Economy, 12(1), 486-509, https://doi.org/10.18080/jtde.v12n1.859

Mohammad, S. M., & Turney, P. D. (2013). CROWDSOURCING A WORD–EMOTION ASSOCIATION LEXICON. Computational Intelligence, 29(3), 436-465, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8640.2012.00460.x

Mushtaq, F. M., Ghazali, E. M., & Hamzah, Z. L. (2024). Brand hate: a systematic literature review and future perspectives. Management Review Quarterly, 1-34, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-023-00402-z

Parveen, U. (2025). An Analysis of Linguistics Patterns in Online Product or Service Reviews and their Influence on Customer Behavior. Qlantic Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 6(2), 111-117, https://doi.org/10.55737/qjssh.vi-ii.25358

Rinker, T. (2017). Package ‘sentimentr’. Retrieved, 8, 31,

Sternberg, R. J., & Sternberg, K. (2008). The Nature of Hate. Cambridge University Press.

Wickham, H., & Bryan, J. (2023). R packages. " O'Reilly Media, Inc.".

Yadav, A., & Chakrabarti, S. (2022). Brand hate: A systematic literature review and future research agenda. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 46(5), 1992-2019, https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.12772

Yu, J. H., & Chauhan, D. (2025). Trends in NLP for personalized learning: LDA and sentiment analysis insights. Education and Information Technologies, 30(4), 4307-4348, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-024-12988-2

Zarantonello, L., Romani, S., Grappi, S., & Bagozzi, R. P. (2016). Brand hate. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 25(1), 11-25, https://doi.org/10.1108/jpbm-01-2015-0799

Zhang, C., & Laroche, M. (2020). Brand hate: a multidimensional construct. Journal of Product and Brand Management, 30(3), 392-414, https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-11-2018-2103

Zhang, Q., Su, L., Zhou, L., & Dai, Y. (2025). Distance Brings About Beauty: When Does the Influence of Positive Travel Online Reviews Grow Stronger Relative to Negative Reviews? Journal of Travel Research, 64(1), 172-188, https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875231209426

Downloads

Published

2026-05-12