The existing literature also does not adequately distinguish between the love emotion and the love relationship. The love emotion is a single, specific feeling, akin to affection (Richins 1997), which, like all emotions, is short term and episodic. In contrast, the love relationship, like the friendship relationship, can last for decades and involves numerous affective, cognitive, and behavioral experiences (Fournier
1998). Extant brand love research sometimes studies the love emotion and sometimes studies the love relationship, but it rarely acknowledges the distinction.