Supplementary Data for: Affective Recognition and the Limits of Branded Ethics

In the context of a corporate retreat from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), this article argues that such withdrawals are not ideological reversals but the culmination of branded strategies. Employing sociosemiotic analysis, it develops a typology of visionary, sensitive, and reflexive brands, examining how empathy is selectively framed to align with commercial objectives. Introducing the concept of ontological erasure, the study demonstrates how branded moral economies systematically render certain subjects and struggles invisible or politically inert. Across media platforms, empathy shifts from ethical relationality into a marketable asset, strategically curated according to affective resonance. Such selective visibility shapes public understandings of social justice, determining whose suffering gains recognition and which causes become morally actionable. By theorizing affective recognition, the article critically reveals how brands manage emotional engagement to sustain market legitimacy, highlighting the strategic logic behind corporate disengagement from DEI and the consolidation of moral hierarchies.