The Role of Consumer Speech Acts in Brand Activism: A Transformative Advertising Perspective

Purpose is the new branding: understanding conscientious purpose-driven marketing and its impact on brand outcomes

“…First, and unlike initial predictions ( H7 ), higher levels of consumer-cause affinity did not strengthen cause-brand congruence and cause-brand authenticity effects when compared to weaker levels of congruence. As such, although consumers are expected to be more likely drawn to brands that share their own important goals in life (Fletcher-Brown et al. , 2024), CPB appears to be equally successful for consumers either highly or lowly involved with the cause/purpose.…”

“…To a digitally empowered generation, when a brand's conscientious purpose-driven messages and practices are consistent, their social media posts will be perceived as authentic; in turn, this will likely encourage consumers to voluntarily comment and share them with their peers, ultimately leading to positive brand attitudes and marketing outcomes. Hence, consumers can potentially gain agency through collective advocacy on social media and should thus be considered and involved in brands' communication strategy (Fletcher-Brown et al, 2024). In other words, as they are more willing to engage with meaningful causes on social media than prior generations (Narayanan, 2022), digital natives may serve as social catalysts for increasing CPB effectiveness and authenticity through their active social media participation.…”

“…Although sharing some similarities, brand activism differs from brand purpose, CSR and CrM. While these latter strategies typically address generally accepted, non-divisive concerns, brand activism lacks this type of consensus, as it implies an organization’s engagement in a controversial or polarizing sociopolitical issue not necessarily related to their core business (Fletcher-Brown et al. , 2024), thus involving greater uncertainty and risk (Wannow et al.…”

“…To a digitally empowered generation, when a brand’s conscientious purpose-driven messages and practices are consistent, their social media posts will be perceived as authentic; in turn, this will likely encourage consumers to voluntarily comment and share them with their peers, ultimately leading to positive brand attitudes and marketing outcomes. Hence, consumers can potentially gain agency through collective advocacy on social media and should thus be considered and involved in brands’ communication strategy (Fletcher-Brown et al. , 2024).…”

“…Although sharing some similarities, brand activism differs from brand purpose, CSR and CrM. While these latter strategies typically address generally accepted, non-divisive concerns, brand activism lacks this type of consensus, as it implies an organization's engagement in a controversial or polarizing sociopolitical issue not necessarily related to their core business (Fletcher-Brown et al, 2024), thus involving greater uncertainty and risk (Wannow et al, 2024). Brand activism can be considered an evolution of CSR (Parris and Guzm an, 2023) and is defined as an emerging marketing tactic for brands seeking to stand out in a fragmented marketplace by taking public stances on institutionally contested issuesi.e.…”