Brand Movement

For three decades, consumer research has paid a great deal of attention to the role of brands in fostering social formations such as subcultures, communities, and publics. Some of these formations manipulate elements of consumer culture for the sake of ideological and cultural changes. In this regard, consumers organize themselves in movements, namely anti-brand movements, which overtly criticize brands. Following these streams of research, this article introduces the notion of brand movement to conceptualize current phenomena whereby consumers-citizens turn to brands to produce a political change in society. In turn, brands have the power to channel, mobilize, and empower these consumers-citizens to gain more political legitimation and success in social territory. We define brand movement as a brand-related platform that propels the evolution and dissemination of political views, ideas, and actions. Consumer-related social formations are a key phenomenon of current consumer societies (Jenkins, 2006; Kozinets, and Handelman, 2004). Studies in consumer culture show the way in which consumption nourishes subcultures, communities, tribes, collaborative networks, collectives, movements, activism, and publics of consumers (Arvidsson and Caliandro, 2016; Cova et al., 2007; Kozinets, 2001; Scaraboto and Fischer, 2013; Schouten and McAlexander, 1995; Thompson et a., 2006; Weijo et al., 2018). Brands are at the core of these sociocultural phenomena (Luedicke et al., 2010; Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001; Schau et al., 2009). More specifically, the strong connection of consumers to their brands leads to the rise of social groups of devotees turning the brand into a cult object (Belk and Tumbat, 2005; Muniz and Schau, 2005). However, consumers can also unite against a brand when they despise it (Izberk-Bilgin, 2012; Kozinets, and Handelman, 2004). While most of the research in consumer culture has focused especially on those brand-related social formations emerging in opposition to the society as a whole, as an alternative to it, or both (Kozinets, 2001; Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001; Schouten and McAlexander, 1995), we still know little about those brand-related social movements that gain momentum in their interaction with the current society.