This research makes several contributions. First, in the
initial study, we replicate the findings of previous scholarship
on sponsorship (Simmons and Becker-Olsen, 2004;
Speed and Thompson, 2000) and social marketing (Sen and
Bhattacharya, 2001), which show that low-fit alignments
with intrinsically positive initiatives can lead to negative
assessments of firms by consumers. Second, we build on
previous social marketing literature by explicitly evaluating
additional firm/program conditions that may influence
consumers’ responses towards firms and their products,
such as perceived motivation of the firm. Third, in the
second study, we show that high-fit initiatives, which are
perceived as reactive rather than proactive, can also
negatively impact consumer behavior. Finally, in both
studies, we evaluate not only global assessments of the firm (e.g., overall attitude), but also specific beliefs such as
corporate ability and corporate credibility.