Bridging the Ideological Divide: Shared Brand Preferences Facilitate Conversations with Dissimilar Others

Abstract

Conversations are crucial to bridging the ideological divide, yet people are generally reluctant to talk to others about controversial topics due to fear of disagreement. This paper investigates a simple intervention—leveraging information about shared brand preferences—to increase conversations across the ideological divide. Across five experiments (N = 1,996) and a text analysis with Reddit posts, we find that people are more willing to discuss controversial socio-political issues with those who share their brand preferences than those who do not. This is because people perceive that others who share their brand preferences also share their opinions on social issues, even if their preferred brands are not known for having a particular ideological stance. Shared brand preferences can also overcome the previously established reluctance to discuss controversial topics with those from different demographic backgrounds. Confirming the importance of instigating conversations, people’s opinions converge once they engage in conversations, an effect that is more pronounced when conversation partners believe that they share brand preferences. Text analyses from Reddit posts suggest that one possible reason for such opinion convergence may be because people who like the same brands speak to each other in a more positive and receptive conversational tone. These results provide a tool that can be leveraged to bring people across the political spectrum together and reduce polarization.