The algorithmic public opinion as an open heuristic

Scholarship on branding has made important contributions in terms of the value-creating function of
branding. However, previous literature has overemphasized the creation of value for organizations
at the expense of an understanding of the destructive side of branding for organizations and
society. Drawing on the work of Boltanski and Thevénot, we theorize value as different in separate
‘worlds of worth’ and offer a competing approach, arguing that the organizational practice of
branding simultaneously and inevitably involves value-destructive aspects. In addition, to enable
analysis of these value-destructive aspects, we argue that new understandings of what branding
is are needed, and therefore, we introduce two new metaphors: branding as discursive closure
and branding as hypocrisy. Based on these conceptual developments, the article offers a heuristic
model for analyzing how, and what types of, value may be destroyed in organizational branding
practice. We thereby contribute with a critical understanding of organizational branding that
acknowledges the conflictual relationship between value regimes and enables a balanced analysis
of the social consequences of branding.