BRAND ACTIVISM: A Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

Abstract

Brand activism is a new and fragmented phenomenon that has been attracting growing attention from scholars. Research on this topic is still at an exploratory stage and in need of advancement and conceptualization. The aim of this study is to systematize the extant literature on brand activism by attempting an in‐depth exploration of the antecedents that identify the construct along with the influencing and consequence factors that will need to be tested and validated by future research. This study adopts the guidelines provided by the SPAR‐4‐SLR protocol and considers 76 papers with no time limitation. To the best of our knowledge, this seems to be the first scientific systematization of brand activism. From the in‐depth analysis of the extant literature, two conceptual frameworks were constructed that can guide both researchers, in their understanding and investigation of the phenomenon, and practitioners in their implementation strategies of brand activism. The no time restriction of the analysis has allowed an investigation of the phenomenon from its prodromes until recent years, also highlighting important gaps that will have to be filled by future research.

Opinion balance of news in the time of mistrust in media and democratic institutions

“…While credibility means that we perceive the brand through the optics of the brand having the expertise, legitimacy represents the attitude of the brand being allowed to do something that is desirable and appropriate within a certain context. Authenticity is a key factor with an influence on the consumer attitudes toward brand activism (Cammarota et al, 2023). Consumers reject the campaigns they don't perceive as authentic.…”

New trends in media production – seriality and transtextuality in film music

“…Brand activism was most likely preceded by projects of corporate social responsibility (CSR), which paradoxically often appeared as a response to the activist groups and activities, which in fact played a decisive role in the transformation of corporate values. In a relatively short period of time, many companies have transformed themselves from trying to ignore and resist the attacks of activists to accepting the required social changes, creating CSR projects, or even to their own involvement in activism, in which they adopted activist communication precisely from the activist groups that confronted them in the past (Cammarota et al, 2023). The CSR projects, which appeared to be insufficient, were one of the reasons behind this rapid change in the communication strategy of companies.…”

Consumer attitudes towards woke advertising

“…U međuvremenu se pojavljuju istraživanja kojima se istražuje marketinški potencijal uključivanja poduzeća i marki u društveno-politička pitanja (npr. Bernard, 2019;Eyada, 2020;Korschun, 2021;Cammarota, Marino & Resciniti, 2021;Cristobal et al, 2022). Istovremeno, pregledom domaće literature utvrđeno je kako tema woke oglašavanja još nije privukla zanimanje znanstvenika.…”

“…Za aktivizam marki (Vredenburg et al, 2020) posebno su zainteresirani potrošači koji pripadaju generacijama Y i Z (Sarkar & Kotler, 2018). Povezivanje poduzeća i marki s woke pokretima može donijeti prednosti (Cammarota, Marino & Resciniti, 2021), ali ima i rizike (Cristobal et al, 2022). Čak i neutralnost ili izbjegavanje zauzimanja stava o društveno-političkim pitanjima od strane poduzeća ili marke može negativno utjecati na percepciju potrošača (Korschun, 2021).…”