This research examines anti-consumption practices, motivations and values within attempts to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Sixteen women were interviewed and from their narratives, anti-consumption for sustainability was found to be practiced via acts of rejection, reduction and reuse. In addition, practices of anti-consumption for sustainability are constructed through the collaboration between the needs of the individual and the needs for environmental preservation. This perspective moves sustainable consumption away from a rational information processing and environmentally motivated choice to incorporate various subjective and individualistic needs and values. Hence, the challenge for sustainable marketers is to position sustainable practices along side self interested notions such as independence, beauty, quality or value for money.

The creation of identity, in terms of both consumer identity and brand identity, is a core topic in marketing theory. Based on participant ethnography of Yes Edinburgh North & Leith, part of Yes Scotland, the national referendum campaign supporting Scottish independence, this paper explores identity co-creation among three entities: the brand, the individual consumer, and the brand community. The findings suggest that the interactions among these entities co-create their identity, primarily through the actions of highly motivated working consumers. This paper identifies the main dialectic relationships and shows how the effects move beyond the dyads to affect the other entities, including the symbols used in the process of co-creation. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for brands, individual consumers, and brand communities.

PurposeThis paper aims to contribute to the special issue theme by analysing intentional non‐consumption through anti‐consumption and consumer resistance lenses.Design/methodology/approachA total of 16 in‐depth interviews with women who intentionally practise non‐consumption for sustainability were completed.FindingsTwo major themes where identified: I versus them: the careless consumers, and The objective/subjective dialectic in mundane practices.Originality/valueWhile it is tempting to delineate one concept from another, in practice, both anti‐consumption and consumer resistance intersect and represent complementary frameworks in studying non‐consumption.

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The success of brand communities as social structures that facilitate the co-creation of brands depends on the nature of their members' participation. Existing research provides limited insights into the roles brand community members perform. In response, this study, using role theory as its theoretical foundations, explores the roles members play. Ethnographic data were collected primarily from a brand community where highly involved working consumers interacted both off and online. The analysis reveals that there are categories of roles performed which are necessary for the development and long term prosperity of the community; it also identifies specific roles within each category and elucidates how these structure and manage the community as an entity. The study contributes to knowledge and practice by elucidating the variety and complexity of roles members need to play in order to secure an active and healthy brand community and develops further evidence to support that brand communities are primarily self-managed entities.