Brands in the eye of the storm navigating political consumerism and boycott calls on social media

Published Article

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Role

Researcher and co-author

May 2020 - May 2022

Timelines

Given the division between conservative and liberal ideologies on many issues, brands navigate social media minefields whenever they take a social or political stance. This study aims to explore real-time social media consumer responses to eight US boycott threats, including both conservative-based and liberal based calls for boycott.

Background

A grounded theory analysis of approximately 800 tweets collected in the 24h following each brand’s trigger event was used to create a framework of motivations for using social media to engage in boycott discussions over a brand’s political stance.

A total of 11 pro-boycott and 11 anti-boycott consumer profiles emerged with varying levels of emotion, influence and attribution.

Process