Shame campaigns and environmental justice: corporate shaming as activist strategy

Abstract

Shame campaigns aim to change industry practices by targeting the reputational value of individual firms. They occupy a contested political space from which they leverage existing inequalities in the market to redress political inequalities on the ground. This article assesses two such campaigns-the No Dirty Gold and Global Finance campaignsbased upon their ability to overcome the limitations of relying on markets for leverage and selectively targeting firms directly. While activists connect companies' right to profit with social and environmental responsibilities, they do not directly tackle overconsumption and have done little work to reduce economic inequality. However, campaigners work to rectify existing political inequalities through their efforts to promote transparency, supply educational information, and facilitate inclusive debate amongst stakeholders. While shame campaigns reflect many of the inherent contradictions of global civil society, activists manage to challenge unwanted industry activities by circumventing the state institutions that facilitate their imposition.

Why academics should study the supply chains of individual corporations

“…There was a notable “south‐north” direction of the investigated supply chains, with the bulk of retailers in wealthy, western countries. The transition economies and their burgeoning consumer class were underrepresented as final markets, echoing Bloomfield's (, ) observations of GCC, GVC, and GPN scholarship and criticism of NGO campaigns.…”

“…Much like NGOs, industrial ecologists view companies as fulcrums of environmental and social change (Dauvergne & Lebaron, ; Lifset & Graedel, ). Both promote market mechanisms to move producers and consumers toward sustainability (Bloomfield, ). One reason might be the prominent belief held by industrial ecologists in the ability of technology address resource scarcity and global environmental collapse (O'Rourke et al., ).…”

“…This strategy is effective since brands—carefully cultivated over time and valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars—are valuable corporate assets (Interbrand, ). NGOs strategically identify sensitive corporate actors and their brands in problematic sectors (Bloomfield, , ). For instance, NGOs linked Nike, a brand associated with notions of freedom and empowerment, to child labor and sweatshops (Bartley, ).…”

“…NGOs target well-known brands to gain leverage over corporations (Bloomfield, 2014;Chrun, Dolsak, & Prakash, 2016). This strategy is effective since brands-carefully cultivated over time and valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars-are valuable corporate assets (Interbrand, 2018).…”

The Global Production Network for iron ore: materiality, corporate strategies, and social contestation in Brazil

“…For example, Bloomfield (2014) evaluates to what extent the "No Dirty Gold" campaign questioned unwanted industry activities and pressure firms to change specific practices. Mutti et al (2012) study social stakeholder networks and evaluate their belief systems, although fail to debate their strategies and actions.…”