Brand activism

Abstract

In this work, brand activism is defined as a strategy that seeks to influence citizen-consumers by means of campaigns created and sustained by political values. It involves a transformation in corporate communication management and social responsibility practices, which borrows from those of social movements to contribute to the social production of identity of citizen-consumers. This corporate political shift involves the use of messages, slogans and content based on final (of common interest) or instrumental (linked to the industry in which they are applied) political values. Political behaviour does not operate in a vacuum but is the response to a change in values of the young generations employing digital technologies and demanding a different behaviour from global firms. However, these political advertising practices have been heavily criticised in the field of political economy, insofar as it is contended that they are impostures lacking authenticity. Thus, 45 campaigns were analysed to determine the characteristics of brand activism in this new socio-political context. From the results it follows that this activist practice, of Anglo-Saxon origin, is a relevant trend in political communication because it aligns individual identity, the management of public assets and corporate action in the political sphere.

S(t)imulating resistance: Corporate responses to the Trump presidency

“…Corporate activism has been argued to encompass employee activism (Skoglund and Böhm, 2019), CEO activism (Chatterji and Toffel, 2019), systems innovation (Corvellec and Stål, 2019) and brand activism such as campaigns and advertising (e.g. Böhm et al, 2018;Manfredi-Sánchez, 2019;Sarkar and Kotler, 2018). In relation to CSR, advertising is construed as an 'aggressive' type of communication in contrast to, for example, CSR reports, which are seen as subtler communicative forms (Morsing and Schultz, 2006).…”

“…Existing contributions to the development of the field include studies of organizational members' everyday environmental activism (Skoglund and Böhm, 2019), CEOs' advocacy on environmental and social issues, both liberal and conservative (Chatterji and Toffel, 2019), recycling systems in fashion retailing (Corvellec and Stål, 2019) and brand activism (e.g. Böhm et al, 2018;Manfredi-Sánchez, 2019). As a subset of corporate activism, brand activism has been taken to include actions such as Patagonia's 'The President Stole Your Land' campaign for the protection of national parks in the United States (Baldwin, 2018) and Nike's advertisements featuring the National Football League (NFL) quarterback Colin Kaepernick who knelt during the national anthem to highlight racial injustice (Draper et al, 2018) as well as a wider range of practices that are traditionally associated with marketing management (Sarkar and Kotler, 2018).…”

Study of Brand Activism on Millennials and Generation Z

“…Manfredi-Sánchez, J. L. [12] citizen-consumers who demanded from companies a sort of participation and shared responsibility in political and social concerns and that corporate social responsibility be channelled towards a holistic strategy of reputation and trust should be listened to and accommodated. As a result, activist brands seek to be a part of the aesthetics of authenticity in the consumption capitalism and values that exist today.…”

Strategic Dialogic Communication Through Digital Media During COVID-19 Crisis

“…perceived as highly trustworthy sources for prospective customers(Manfredi-Sánchez, 2019;Chu & Kim, 2011;Ye, Law, Gu & Chen, 2011). Thus, corporate communications practitioners are increasingly subscribing to different social media networks, including Facebook, YouTube,Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn, among others, to increase the reach of their content (Navarro-Beltrá, Medina, Correia, 2020; Costa-Sánchez, amd Míguez-González, 2018; Champoux et al, 2012).…”