Handwritten or machine-written? How typeface affects consumer forgiveness for brand failures

The prevalence of brand failures being exposed has risen in the digital era. Issuing apology statements on social media platforms is the most effective strategy for gaining consumer forgiveness nowadays, yet the strategies for leveraging typeface design in apology statements to yield consumer forgiveness remain poorly understood. Drawing on the resource compensation theory, this study aims to investigate how typeface design in apologies influences consumer forgiveness following brand failure. Findings from four studies demonstrated that brand failures and apology typefaces have an interactive effect on consumer forgiveness. Specifically, handwritten apology statements are effective in securing forgiveness from consumers when a brand involved in moral failures through perceived moral control. Conversely, machine-written apology statements are more likely to elicit forgiveness from consumers when a brand commits competence failures through perceived competence control. Furthermore, the brand image (cute vs. cool) moderates this interaction effect. These findings contribute to the literature on brand failure and typeface design, providing valuable managerial insights for brands and retail marketers to leverage typeface design to win consumers’ forgiveness towards brand failures.