Political Ideology in Consumer Resistance: Analyzing Far-Right Opposition to Multicultural Marketing

Abstract

Political ideologies of the far-right are gaining ground in world politics and culture, not least by way of market forces. It has therefore become urgent to understand how these ideologies manifest themselves in the fields of marketing and consumption at a sociocultural level. The authors explore the discursive efforts in far-right consumer resistance to advance a political agenda through protests directed at brands’ multicultural advertising and analyze how these consumers conceptualize their adversaries in the marketplace. In contrast to previous framings of adversaries identified in consumer research, where resistance is typically anticapitalist and directed toward firms’ unethical conduct or the exploitation by the global market economy per se, the authors find that the following discursive themes stand out in the far-right consumer resistance: the emphasis on the state as main antagonist, the indifference to capitalism as a potential adversary, and overt contestation of liberal ethics. The article concludes with a discussion of research contributions as well as the public policy and marketing implications in light of a growing far-right consumer culture.

Tickling tensions: Gazing into the parallax gap of the multicultural imaginary

“…Already going on in traditional and social media (Askanius and Mylonas, 2015), this heated political conflict was further inflamed during the refugee wave in 2015, when Sweden accepted more refugees per capita than any other European country (Krzy_ zanowski, 2018). Brands active at the Swedish market began to target the liberal share of the consumer market by addressing and framing the ideological conflict as one about 'multiculturalism' in their various actions and representations (Ulver and Laurell, 2020). In academic branding vernacular one could say that the brands used the opportunity to mobilize a sort of Holtian cultural branding strategy which is a market-mediated attempt to make brands iconic by offering a narrative 'solution' through ideological consolation and salvation during societal unrest (Holt, 2003(Holt, , 2004(Holt, , 2006Holt and Cameron, 2010).…”

“…However, especially since 2012, the anti-immigration party Sverigedemokraterna have gained in popularity, as has the far-right in general (Wodak et al, 2013), and the polarized debates about racism and anti-racism in social media have intensified in line with the 'discursive construction of scapegoats and loadstars' (Askanius and Mylonas, 2015). Furthermore, emerging in the far-right social mediascape, a persistent narrative had it that marketers produced massively disproportionate amounts of multicultural marketing to placate the feminized state and its 'pathologically woke' citizens (Ulver and Laurell, 2020). All in all, this makes Sweden an apt case through which to study such advertising.…”

“…As outlets for ethnonationalist aggression, far-right media was, as we saw earlier, very active in creating discursive punching bags out of spatialities with social-liberal multicultural policies, which in itself fertilized a polarized culture war circulating around the very term ‘multiculturalism’ (Lentin and Titley, 2011). As a result, while many scholars have deemed theories of multiculturalism to be outdated old hats from the 1990s – for instance Stuart Hall who looked back at ‘the days of multiculturalism’ (Hall, 2017: 211) – in other spheres the term and idea of multiculturalism has indeed had a revival in the shape of malign and benevolent fantasies in public debates (Titley, 2019), in consumer counter culture (Ulver and Laurell, 2020) and in marketing practice (Veresiu and Giesler, 2018). Hence, the briefly outlined but central perspectives on multiculturalism above – the postcolonialist, the (neo)liberal, the Žižekian and the ethnonationalist – make up important pillars in the collective consciousness and public debate about what a multicultural society ‘is’ and ‘should be’.…”

Marketing’s Role in Understanding Political Activity

“…Evidence suggests that liberal individuals, groups, and parties are becoming more extreme in their views, and conservative individuals are becoming more extreme in theirs (Dimock et al 2014; Ulver and Laurell 2020). This polarization implies a lack of common ground between political ideologies, with fewer shared political opinions and experiences.…”

“…However, company brand activism can have unintended citizen responses as well. Indeed, Ulver and Laurell (2020) provide deep and novel insights into resistance against brand activism. Using the Swedish political environment as a context, these authors examine how a vocal set of consumers express their resistance to and disdain for brands’ use of multicultural images in its advertising, which they view as a form of brand activism.…”