Consumer activism
[clarification needed][1] For Eleftheria Lekakis, author of Consumer Activism: Promotional Culture and Resistance,[2] it includes a variety of consumer practices that range from boycotting and ‘buycotting’ to alternative economic practices, lobbying businesses or governments, practising minimal or mindful consumption, or addressing the complicity of advertising in climate change.
[8] Activism on behalf of the consumer began around the 20th Century in the United States, in what scholars Tim Lang and Yiannis Gabriel term the "value-for-consumer" wave, and which sociologist Hayagreeva Rao calls the antiadulteration movement.
[8] From the 1990s and into the 21st century, consumer activism has been closely associated with sharp critiques of globalization and the damaging effects of concentrated corporate power.
Scholars Robert V. Kozinets and Jay M. Handelman find that consumer activism needs three factors: "a goal, a self-representation, and an adversary.
Consumer activist tactics can include boycotts, petitioning the government, media activism, and organizing interest groups.
Consumer boycotts damage a brand's reputation and can result in short term dips in a company's stock prices.
due to the rapid pace of information spreading across the internet and even be successful in causing policy change or restructuring of leadership if the boycott represents a major societal issue or movement instead of an isolated, independent effort.
[14][13] They are known[weasel words] to be successful when the issue the boycott is targeting is simple and easy to understand, with low cost of mobilization and many alternatives for consumers to turn toward.
[16] Consumer boycotts have also been an effective strategy for African Americans to gain equality in employment, access to public spaces such as shopping centers, or other various political objectives.
Suffragists in San Francisco used these public spaces to access the vast network of consumers shopping in the downtown boutiques in order to “sell” suffrage to both the men and women of California.
[18] Using the displays and advertising techniques employed by retailers, the women of San Francisco were able to successfully use consumer spaces to campaign for their suffrage.
[21] At the same time, the internet and various platforms are part of a digital economy that favours and promote consumerism[22]], which is contrary to classic aims of consumer activism.
[17] Historically, African Americans have been excluded from opportunities to work white-collar jobs, instead finding themselves both sustained and exploited in domestic service and farming roles.
The campaign was considered successful in ushering an increase of African American employment rates, opportunities for advancement and promotion, and a strengthening of purchasing power.
[24] The movement also provided a basic template for direct-action Civil Rights activists to use in the 1960s, such as the Montgomery Bus Boycotts or lunch counter sit-ins.
With the promise of postwar prosperity, women consumer activists all over the country were effectively motivated to stand up for their consumption rights.
Although the OPA could not reverse the high prices and discrimination that African Americans faced in the housing market, they could still work to “prevent the extension of this abuse”.
Through social media activity, Greenpeace forced Kit Kat to cut all ties with Sinar Mas Group, the company that was providing the palm oil.
[35] Starbucks was the target of backlash from conservative Trump supporters in 2017 after Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz spoke out in favor of employing refugees at various locations of the coffee shop chain after Trump proposed a travel ban targeted towards stopping Muslim Middle Eastern refugees from entering the United States.
Companies slow to announce any disinvestments or scaling back of their operations in Russia have been subject to criticism and calls for consumer boycott.
"[43] Rose McGowan's account was suspended after it tweeted about an accused sexual harasser within the Hollywood celebrity community, for breaking Twitter rules about posting personal information.
[citation needed] Notable consumer activists include Carol Tucker-Foreman, Marc Kasky, Richard Kessel, Virginia H. Knauer, Eileen Hoats, Ralph Nader, Frances Perkins, Michael Pertschuk, and Peter A. Peyser.
