A counterinsurgent (COIN) framework to defend against consumer activists

With internet and social media technologies, activists can unleash swarming, guerilla style attacks that quickly devastate brands with little effort. Inspired by counterinsurgency (COIN) theory, this study proffers a multi-dimensional framework for brands to defend against consumer activists. The framework, which emerges from a comprehensive review of the military, consumer activism, and brand management studies, proposes proactive strategies that brands can implement to prevent an activist attack. They include (1) the mobilization and coordination of COIN, (2) intelligence operations, and (3) psychological operations. The proactive strategies extend and complement the reactive strategies (e.g., accommodative, defensive, do nothing) previously emphasized by the literature. When brands do bad, consumer activists’ attacks are warranted and accommodations are needed. But to avoid negative interactions with activists, brands could preemptively “strike,” not necessarily with hostile measures, but by reaching out and engaging consumer activists to arrive at a solution before negative encounters occur.