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The activist brand and the transformational power of resistance: towards a narrative conceptual framework

Author

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  • Sophie Esmann Andersen

    (Aarhus University)

  • Trine Susanne Johansen

    (Aarhus University)

Abstract

Brand activism has become a popular term for describing how brands are becoming involved with controversial sociopolitical issues. The activist brand is thus characterised by its engagement with controversy and understood in and through macro-level cultural oppositions which it continuously orbits and positions itself against. The purpose of this paper is to contribute with a conceptual gaze at the activist brand's inherent controversy that enables an understanding of the online micro-level dynamics and processes that transform the online activist brand. Drawing on a narrative approach, the paper develops an ante- and counternarrative framework to explain how these complex micro-level dynamics and processes of resistance transform the brand. The framework allows us to approach the activist brand as the result of a complex network of antenarratives and counternarratives, which the brand flows in and out of, retells, supports, and resists.

Suggested Citation

  • Sophie Esmann Andersen & Trine Susanne Johansen, 2024. "The activist brand and the transformational power of resistance: towards a narrative conceptual framework," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 31(2), pages 140-152, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:jobman:v:31:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1057_s41262-023-00320-1
    DOI: 10.1057/s41262-023-00320-1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Klement Podnar & Urša Golob, 2024. "Brands and activism: ecosystem and paradoxes," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 31(2), pages 95-107, March.

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