Does Cancel Culture Affect the Bottom Line? A Timeseries Analysis of Sentiment and Emotion on the Efficacy of the Call to Cancel Against Abercrombie & Fitch

Abstract

Social media polemics that call to cancel, boycott, or otherwise disrupt a business have become endemic to the medium. The following case study of Abercrombie & Fitch explores the effectiveness of these “call to cancel” and, by analyzing the sentiment of the tweets, a time-series regression analysis was used to develop a predictive model of correlations to fiscal indicators. Sentiment of Twitter data was collected for each fiscal quarter for 10 years. Results showed a spike in negative sentiment values that corresponded to the call to cancel. The polemic differences were strongly correlated to adjusted sales. Results showed a structural break in sales. The sudden change in sentiment preceded a shock to the fiscal system of the company. Individual emotions were ultimately found to be representing two factors. The implications of this study lend credence to the construct of cancelling while also calling into question the idea of separate emotions.