Juan-Luis Manfredi-Sánchez e-mail(Login required)

Main Article Content

Authors

Juan-Luis Manfredi-Sánchez e-mail(Login required)

Abstract

4569
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.

Keywords

Brand activism, corporate political shift, corporate diplomacy, campaign, environment, consumer-citizen, identity, authenticity

References

Aced, C. (2013). Relaciones públicas 2.0: Cómo gestionar la comunicación corporativa en el entorno digital. Barcelona: UOC.

Achrol, R. & Kotler, P. (1999) Marketing in the Network Economy. Journal of Marketing, 63, 146-163. https://www.doi.org/10.2307/1252108

Altman, B. W. (1998). Corporate Community Relations in the 1990s: A Study in Transformation. Business and Society, 37(2), 221-228. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/000765039803700205

Beck, U. (2000). What Is Globalization? Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

Benner, R. (2018). Brand Activism: Working Toward Progressive Representations of Social Movements in Advertising. Doctoral Thesis. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2PEcJYz

Bennett, L. (2006). Branded Political Communication: Lifestyle Politics, Logo Campaigns, and the Rise of Global Citizenship. In M. Micheletti, A. Follesdal & D. Stolle (Eds.), Politics, Products, and Markets. Exploring Political Consumerism Past and Present (pp. 101-126). New Brunswick: Transaction Books.

Capriotti, P. (2013). Planificación estratégica de la Imagen Corporativa. Málaga: Instituto de Investigación en Relaciones Públicas (IIRP).

Capriotti, P. & Moreno, A. (2007). Corporate citizenship and public relations: The importance and interactivity of social responsibility issues on corporate websites. Public Relations Review, 33, 84-91. https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2006.11.012

Carroll, A. B. & Buchholtz, A. K. (2008). Business & Society. Ethics and Stakeholder Managenent. Cengage Learning.

Carroll, W. K. & Hackett, R. A. (2006): Democratic media activism through the lens of social movement theory. Media, Culture & Society, 28(1), 83-104. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/0163443706059289

Chadwick, S. & Zipp, S. (2018, September 14). Nike, Colin Kaepernick and the pitfalls of “woke” corporate branding. The Conversation. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2GGw0om

Chatterji, A. & Toffel, M. W. (2019). Assessing the Impact of CEO Activism. Harvard Business School Technology & Operations Mgt. Unit Working Paper 16-100. http://www.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2742209

Coen, D. & Katsaitis, A. (2015). Institutional and Constitutional aspects of Special Interest Representation. Brussels: European Union. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2ZK9dAr

Dauveger, P. (2017). Is the Power of Brand-Focused Activism Rising? The Case of Tropical Deforestation. The Journal of Environment & Development, 25(2), 135-155. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1070496517701249

Daniels, C. (2018, September 7). Worth the sacrifice: Why Nike was willing to risk backlash to embrace Colin Kaepernick. Prweek. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2IUG7IS

Davies, W. (2016). La industria de la felicidad. Barcelona: Malpaso.

Den Hond, F., Rehbein, K. A., De Bakker, F. G. A. & Kooijmans-van Lankveld, H. (2014). Playing on Two Chessboards: Reputation Effects between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Political Activity (CPA). Journal of Management Studies, 51(5), 791-813. http://www.doi.org/10.1111/joms.12063

Downey, J. & Stanyer, J. (2010). Comparative media analysis: Why some fuzzy thinking might help. Applying fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis to the personalization of mediated political communication. European Journal of Communication, 25(4), 331-347. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/0267323110384256

Escalas, J. E. (2004). Narrative Processing: Building Consumer Connections to Brands. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 4(1), 168-179. https://www.doi.org/10.1207/s15327663jcp1401&2_19

Feldman, D. (2019). Boycotts Past and Present. Palgrave Critical Studies of Antisemitism and Racism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Friedman, M. (1999). Consumer Boycotts: Effecting Change Through the. Marketplace and the Media. London: Routledge.

Fuchs, C. (2008). Internet and society: social theory in the information age. London: Routledge.

Gaitán, J. A. & Piñuel, J. L. (1998). Técnicas de investigación en Comunicación Social. Madrid: Síntesis.

Halberstam, D. (1997). Playing for Keeps. Michael Jordan and the World He Made. New York: Random House.

Hussain, H. H. & Howard, P. N. (2013). What Best Explains Successful Protest Cascades? ICTs and the Fuzzy Causes of the Arab Spring. International Studies Review, 15(1), 48-66. https://www.doi.org/10.1111/misr.12020

Illouz, E. (2007). Identidades congeladas. Buenos Aires y Madrid: Katz Editores.

Kuehn, K. M. (2017). Brand local: Consumer evaluations as commodity activism on Yelp.com. Journal of Consumer Culture, 18(2), 205-224. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1469540515586866

Lange, D., Lee, P. & Dai, Y. (2011). Organizational reputation: A review. Journal of Management, 37(1), 153-184. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/0149206310390963

Lavito, A. (2018, September 6). Nike’s Colin Kaepernick ads created $163.5 million in buzz since it began and it’s not all bad. CNBC. Retrieved from https://cnb.cx/2XS5eQz

Lekakis, E. (2013). Coffee activism and the politics of fair trade and ethical consumption in the global north: political consumerism and cultural citizenship. Consumption and public life. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

Longo, F. (2010). Ejes vertebradores de la gobernanza en los sistemas públicos. Un marco de análisis en clave latinoamericana. Revista del CLAD Reforma y Democracia, 46, 73-102.

Manfredi, J. L. (2018). Diplomacia corporativa: la nueva inteligencia directiva. Barcelona: UOC.

Matilla, K., Miranda, T., Compte-Pujol, M. & Oliveira, A. (2019). La formación de postgrado de los directores de comunicación españoles. Revista Internacional de Investigación en Comunicación, 19(19), 30-55. https://www.doi.org/10.7263/adresic-019-02

Matos, G., Vinuales, G. & Sheinin, D. A. (2017). The Power of Politics in Branding. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 25(2), 125-140. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/10696679.2016.1270768

Melucci, A. (1985). The Symbolic Challenge of Contemporary Movements. Social Research, 52(4), 789-816. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40970398

Micheletti, M., Follesdal, A. & Stolle, D. (2006). Politics, Products, and Markets: Exploring Political Consumerism Past and Present. New Brunswick: Transaction Publisher.

Mogensen, K. (2017). From Public Relations to Corporate Public Diplomacy. Public Relations Review, 43(3), 605-614. https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2017.03.011

Mukherjee, R. & Banet-Weiser, S. (2012). Commodity Activism: Cultural Resistance in Neoliberal Times. New York: NYU Press.

Nielsen, S. W. (2017). On Political Brands: A Systematic Review of the Literature. Journal of Political Marketing, 16(2), 118-146. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/15377857.2014.959694

Novy-Williams, E. (2018, September 4). Kaepernick Campaign Created $43 Million in Buzz for Nike. Bloomberg. Retrieved from https://bloom.bg/2vrxBc8

Palazzo, G. & Basu, K. (2007). The Ethical Backlash of Corporate Branding. Journal of Business Ethics, 73(4), 333-346. https://www.doi.org/ 10.1007/s10551-006-9210-6

Popp, B., Horbel, C. & Germeln, C. C. (2017). Nature and Consequences of Social Media-Based Anti-brand Activism Against Sponsors and Investors of Sport Teams. Conference: 2016 AMS 19th World Marketing Congress, Paris, France.

Quart, A. (2017, June 6). Faking “wokeness:” how advertising targets millennial liberals for profit. The Guardian. http://bit.ly/2VwtieC

Ragin, C. C. (2000). Fuzzy-Set Social Science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Sarkar, C. & Kotler, P. (2018). Brand Activism. From Purpose to Action. USA: Idea Bite Press.

Scherer, A. G. & Palazzo, G. (2011). The New Political Role of Business in a Globalized World: A Review of a New Perspective on CSR and its Implications for the Firm, Governance, and Democracy. Journal of Management Studies, 48(4), 899-931. https://www.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00950.x

Sender, K. (2012). Business, not politics: The making of the gay market. Columbia: University Press.

Soler Pujal, P. & Enríquez Jiménez, A. M. (2012). “Reflexión sobre el rigor científico en la investigación cualitativa”. Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodístico, 18, 879-888. http://www.doi.org/10.5209/rev_ESMP.2012.v18.40966

Sennet, R. (2006). La cultura del nuevo capitalismo. Barcelona: Anagrama.

Thürer, M., Tomasevic, M., Stevenson, M., Fredendall, L. D. & Protzman, C. W. (2018). On the meaning and use of excellence in the operations literature: a systematic review. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 1-28. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/14783363.2018.1434770

Villafañe, J. (2017). Claves empíricas de la satisfacción y del compromiso del talento en las organizaciones. El profesional de la información, 6(6), 1159-1170. https://www.doi.org/10.3145/epi.2017.nov.15

Waddock, S. (2004). Parallel Universes: Companies, academics, and the progress of corporate citizenship. Business and Society Review, 109(1), 5–24. https://www.doi.org/10.1111/j.0045-3609.2004.00002.x

Xifra, J. (2010). Manual de relaciones públicas e institucionales. Madrid: Tecnos.

Zafra, R. (2017). El entusiasmo. Precariedad y trabajo creativo en la era digital. Barcelona: Anagrama.

Zeisler, A. (2016). We were feminists once: From Riot Grrrl to CoverGirl, the buying and selling of a political movement. New York: Public Affairs.

Metrics

Search GoogleScholar


Details

Article Details

Section
Special Issue: Articles: Activism, Communication and Social Change in the Digital Age