Content area
Full Text
Introduction
“The day we stop posting our discontent on the Internet and really decide to act (not demonstrations or silent marches but burning buildings or sinking whalers, and removing unscrupulous financiers from power), we will have finally understood how to change things. It’s time to begin a new revolution and carry out real punitive actions.” [Comment of a web user on a Non-Governmental Organization blog]
The construction of strong relationships between consumers and brands is one of the most commonly discussed subjects in brand-related literature (Fournier, 1998a). A great amount of research has been devoted to the study of “virtuous” consumer-brand relationships such as loyalty (Fournier and Yao, 1997; Oliver, 1999), attachment (Park et al., 2010), commitment (Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2002; Garbarino and Johnson, 1999) or trust (Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2001; Morgan and Hunt, 1994). However, consumers can also behave antagonistically toward brands (Aaker et al., 2004; Holt, 2002; Kozinets and Handelman, 2004; Thompson and Arsel, 2004), and publications describing these consumer behaviors of resistance and anti-consumption started appearing at the beginning of the 1990s (Fournier, 1998b; Peñaloza and Price, 1993; Roux, 2007). Recent examples illustrate this trend include Starbucks, who were boycotted when they opened a coffee shop that was prohibited to women in Saudi Arabia. Otherwise, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatments of Animals) launched a campaign named McCruelty, and encouraged consumers to demonstrate in front of McDonalds restaurants. This phenomenon is still a hot topic for marketers. As illustrated in the above comment taken from a French Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) website, consumers can spread negative word-of-mouth (NWOM) through messages posted on the internet. However, some consumers want to go further and adopt a very confrontational approach that could have serious legal or physical repercussions.
The literature concerning this trend investigates three main issues, namely, why consumers struggle, how they resist brands and whom or what they are fighting. However, very few publications to date have considered the risks that these consumers take. Varman and Belk (2009) mention the difficulty of finding an alternative to Coca-Cola for Indian farmers wishing to boycott this global brand. Other publications describe how resistance may lead to financial and emotional issues for some of the consumers who avoid the traditional marketplace by adopting a...