Purpose
Given the division between conservative and liberal ideologies on many issues, brands navigate social media minefields whenever they take a social or political stance. This study aims to ...explore real-time social media consumer responses to eight US boycott threats, including both conservative-based and liberal-based calls for boycott.
Design/methodology/approach
A grounded theory analysis of approximately 800 tweets collected in the 24 h following each brand’s trigger event led to a framework of motivations for using social media to engage in boycott discussions over a brand’s political stance.
Findings
Eleven pro-boycott and 11 anti-boycott consumer profiles emerged across cases. Overarching motivations for pro- and anti-boycotters include a desire to cause/prevent change, seeking justice/fairness, self-enhancement and expression of hostility. Findings suggest that political consumerism occurs with differing motivations and varying levels of emotion, that brand defenders may lessen boycott effectiveness and that threats to boycott may not always translate to actual boycotts.
Originality/value
This paper explores actual consumer boycott calls from various industries as they unfolded in real-time, as opposed to other research that explores hypothetical boycotts or a single case study. Additionally, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is among the first to explore how consumers enter the boycott conversation in defense of the brand and attempt to diffuse the call for a boycott.
Reports an error in "On the value of modesty: How signals of status undermine cooperation" by Shalena Srna, Alixandra Barasch and Deborah A. Small ( Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, ...Advanced Online Publication, Apr 21, 2022, np). In the article, the affiliation information for Alixandra Barasch and Deborah A. Small has been updated and now appears in the author note. All versions of this article have been corrected. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2022-53095-001.) The widespread demand for luxury is best understood by the social advantages of signaling status (i.e., conspicuous consumption; Veblen, 1899). In the present research, we examine the limits of this perspective by studying the implications of status signaling for cooperation. Cooperation is principally about caring for others, which is fundamentally at odds with the self-promotional nature of signaling status. Across behaviorally consequential Prisoner’s Dilemma (PD) games and naturalistic scenario studies, we investigate both sides of the relationship between signaling and cooperation: (a) how people respond to others who signal status, as well as (b) the strategic choices people make about whether to signal status. In each case, we find that people recognize the relative advantage of modesty (i.e., the inverse of signaling status) and behave strategically to enable cooperation. That is, people are less likely to cooperate with partners who signal status compared to those who are modest (Studies 1 and 2), and more likely to select a modest person when cooperation is desirable (Study 3). These behaviors are consistent with inferences that status signalers are less prosocial and less prone to cooperate. Importantly, people also refrain from signaling status themselves when it is strategically beneficial to appear cooperative (Studies 4–6). Together, our findings contribute to a better understanding of the conditions under which the reputational costs of conspicuous consumption outweigh its benefits, helping integrate theoretical perspectives on strategic interpersonal dynamics, cooperation, and status signaling. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)
Utilizing data drawn from online and print advertisements, this research compares the green advertising techniques of companies with well-documented strong and weak social and environmental track ...records. Notwithstanding more subtle, divergent narratives suggesting that more responsible companies direct the consumer gaze toward more political and systemic issues while their counterparts tend to emphasize relatively low-cost, scientific, and philanthropic efforts, the main findings indicate that all companies employ a very similar grand narrative focused on consumer empowerment regardless of their actual ethical track record. This suggests that most attempts, by consumers and scholars alike, to determine anything meaningful about actual corporate practices via an analysis of environmental advertising, may be largely futile. A dramaturgical framework is employed to argue that the findings are most suitably explained by reframing green advertising as a form of impression management for an audience of ethical consumers. Thus, greenwashing emerges only when such performances are contradicted by a company's actual environmental track record. The author proposes a more relational definition of greenwashing to reorient the analytical focus on the processes behind, and connections between, the product, the company, and the industry, including their broader cultural context.
Political consumerism is the intentional buying or abstention from buying specific products for political, social, or ethical purposes. We develop and test hypotheses regarding the individual sources ...of political consumerism in the United States. Analysis of survey data shows that similar to voting, education, political interest, and citizen duty promote political consumerism. Akin to protest behavior, political consumerism is enhanced by political distrust and general discontent. In contrast to turnout, political consumerism significantly decreases with age. Given the extraelectoral and self-initiated nature of political consumerism, citizen initiative and a proclivity for individualized forms of activism are significant sources of political consumerism.
Does social capital-trust and association involvement-predict political consumerism-boycotting and buycotting? Using data from the 2002/2003 European Social Survey we conduct a multilevel logit ...analysis of 24,854 individuals nested in 228 within-country regions to evaluate whether social capital and political consumerism are positively related at both the individual and regional level. Findings indicate that individuals with greater personal social capital and those who live in regions with higher average levels of social capital are more likely to be political consumers. These results support previous fndings that link social capital with other forms of civic engagement.
China has faced environmental concerns due to its increased economic growth. Corporations are under various pressures to address environmental issues and may be critical to social change in China. ...Competitive advantage from building green markets and green consumers can occur as social mores and norms evolve. Sustainable consumption can also be managed through green marketing and green consumerism efforts. This paper reviews the emergent research on green marketing and consumerism in China. A total 52 peer reviewed journal publications are identified and reviewed from a variety of journals ranging from technological to marketing based journals. A conceptual framework has been used to identify gaps and future research directions based on marketing strategy, industrial sector, international comparisons, and green consumerism, all of which play a role in society and its sustainability. This work is the first to analyze green marketing and consumerism in China.
In the current economic crisis, social movements are simultaneously facing two types of challenges: first, they are confronting institutions which are less able (or willing) to mediate new demands ...for social justice and equity emerging from various sectors of society, and second, given the highly individualised structure of contemporary society, they are also experiencing difficulties in building bonds of solidarity and cooperation among people, bonds which are a fundamental resource for collective action. It is in this context that protests waves, which may be very relevant, are in fact often short-lived, and it is in this context that we detect the rise and consolidation of new mutualistic and cooperative experiences within which (similarly to the past) new ties and frames for collective action are created. This article discusses and analyses social movement organisations which focus on both the intensification of economic problems and the difficulties of rebuilding social bonds and solidarity within society, emphasising solidarity and the use of ‘alternative’ forms of consumption as means to re-embed the economic system within social relations, starting from the local level. While discussing what is new and/or what has been renewed in new Sustainable Community Movement Organisations, the article will develop an analytical framework which will combine social movements and political consumerism theories by focusing on two basic dimensions: consumer culture and identity and organisational resources and repertoire of action.
This article argues that the governance, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the communications and environmental practices done in the name of it should all recognize that the corporation is ...an aesthetic phenomenon. Through logos, trademarks, websites and product advertisement CSR practices are being aesthetically projected. In turn, this misleads and influences the consumer about the corporation’s environmental performance and compliance with CSR regulations. As a result, the article argues that the aesthetic nature of a corporation must be taken into consideration when punishing dishonest corporate behavior through governance methods. The illusion a corporation can create in claiming it is “green”, can create difficulties for regulations, therefore, tackling the wrongful and misleading statements about a corporation’s products can be more beneficial than focusing on the broader aesthetic of a corporation. Social and environmental activists play a subversive role in the equation which can help with unveiling the green mask. Though history has shown that these narratives can play a limited role in re-establishment, lawful regulation can assist these narratives in forming a more rigid practice when it comes to CSR and greenwashing.
This article considers the relationships between consumption, the environment, and wider sociological endeavour. The current vogue for applying theories of practice to the policy domain of ...‘sustainable consumption’ has been generative of conceptual renewal, however the field now sits closer to the applied environmental social sciences than to the sociology of consumption. The analysis proceeds via a close reading of the intellectual currents that have given rise to this situation, and it identifies a number of interrelated issues concerning conceptual slippage and the exclusion of core disciplinary concerns. Accordingly a more suitable definition of consumption is offered, an agenda for re-engaging with foundational approaches to consumer culture is established, and a renewal and reorientation of critique is proposed. Working through and building on the contributions of practice theoretical repertoires, this article suggests that consumption scholarship offers a distinctive set of resources to discussions of current ecological crises and uncertain social futures. These are briefly described and the conclusion argues that consumption still matters.
This paper is situated in the context of Christian ecotheology – offering both a Christian critique of ecological destruction and an ecological critique of Christianity. One dimension of Christian ...ecotheology involves ecumenical discourse on the content and ecological significance of the Christian faith. This calls for a reinterpretation of all the classic Christian symbols – in this case the doctrine of sin, specifically the nature of sin, explored in the light of ecological discourse. Given the radical diversity in contemporary forms of Christian ecotheology, this paper explores Indian eco-feminist Protestant theologian Aruna Gnanadason’s contribution to the discourse.
It starts with a brief overview of the classical understanding of the nature of sin, followed by the ways in which it is re-described in contemporary ecotheological discourse. It then investigates Gnanadason’s contextual approach and contribution to ecotheology through a discussion of anthropocentrism, domination in the name of differences of species, consumerist greed and alienation – profoundly influenced by her own context. The method employed encompasses ecclesial scrutiny, namely Christianity’s contribution to the environmental crisis, followed by theological reflection on ecological sin, as well as alternative courses of action to appropriately address the issues in question. In conclusion, the article assesses the relevance of Gnanadason’s contribution to the current ecotheological debate.
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