Culture jamming and brandalism for the environment: the logic of appropriation

This article explores creative activism for environmentalism through an examination of culture jamming. Specifically, it looks to the action of the Brandalism project during COP21. This was the replacement of bus stop advertising with original artworks. This form of creative activism is unique in that it addresses the advertising industry as a key battlefield over cultural meaning and environmental sustainability. Through its use of the logic of appropriation inherent in culture jamming, this case challenges critiques about the incorporation of culture jamming within consumer culture. This work theorizes the case through the new politics of consumption, political consumerism, and culture jamming. It argues for the logic of appropriation, before it introduces the case study and explores the visual narratives of environmentalism: corporate greed, inadequate politicians, consumer saturation, Earth in mourning, and public commitment to the environment. Finally, it evaluates the contribution of Brandalism as a form of creative activism for environmentalism

[Review] Tim Bartley, Sebastian Koos, Hiram Samel, Gustavo Setrini and Nik Summers (2015) Looking behind the label: global industries and the conscientious consumer

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A liquid politics? Conceptualising the politics of fair trade consumption and consumer citizenship

abstract A politics borne of consumption is widely contested, not only with respect to the claims it can make but also with respect to the modes of expression it allows and the sorts of practices it encourages. In this paper I conceptually frame the politics of fair trade consumption and empirically ground this account in order to allude towards and explain some of these aforementioned complexities. Conceptually, I discuss and apply Zygmunt Bauman's genealogy of liquidity in terms of organised and disorganised realms of social life (ranging from affective attachment to political activation) to the problem of fair trade. This conceptual discussion is empirically complimented within a series of interviews with ethical consumers. The paper attempts to construct a model of liquid politics which accounts for ethical consumption and consumer citizenship within the context of fair trade. This model addresses ephemeral interactions with the marketplace, cosmopolitan concerns about the distant other and individualised types of action imagined as collective. It alludes towards open forms of engagement and broader definitions of citizenship which both include and exclude traditional political categories of solid modernity. By constructing such a model, I hope to make the case for a macroscopic critique of consumption which intimately connects the structural dynamics characterising the growth of a particular politics to a variety of seemingly banal everyday practices

ICTs and ethical consumption: the political and market futures of fair trade

This paper addresses the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and ethical consumption as part of a cause for the insurance of a sustainable future. It homes in on fair trade as an ethical market, politically progressive cause and, crucially, form of participation where citizens can engage in the formation of an alternative future and the broader issue of food security. An three-dimensional analysis of agencies and uses of digital structures and content is informed by a case study approach, as well as interviews with fair trade activists, and ethically consuming citizens in the British metropolis. Through this, the argument which primarily rises distinguishes between the dimensions of durability (in terms of time and duration) and sustainability (in terms of time, duration and environmental concerns) of engagement in fair trade as a form of participation. Ethical consumption, then, is part of a durable market which has developed despite general market fluctuation, but is still very much bound in traditional physical economic spaces; in other words, ethical consumption has been integrated in the business as usual paradigm. Additionally, ICTs have not challenged the way in which information about ethical consumption is communicated or the spaces in which it is conducted. ICTs have been employed by fair trade activists, but they have not contributed to the development of fair trade as a political or economic project. Over a period of over five decades since the inception of the cause, their use has not significantly altered the way in which citizens engage with fair trade in the alternative or mainstream marketplace

Economic nationalism and the cultural politics of consumption under austerity: the rise of ethnocentric consumption in Greece

By nuancing the politics of consumption in the context of austerity, this article highlights the rise of economic nationalism and the reconfiguration of consumer cultures at the aftermath of the global financial crisis. As it argues, in the context of Greece, three types of consumer culture have manifested; these are evoking consumption as resilience, resistance or reinforcement. This work focuses on the latter through the phenomenon of ethnocentric consumption, which is part and parcel of economic nationalism. Economic nationalism can be explored through promotion of ethnocentric consumption and is demonstrable both in the inception and constitution of nation states, but also in times of crisis. This article critically appraises ethnocentric consumption as consumption based on ethnocentric criteria (natural resources, ownership, production, manufacturing, distribution and labour force). In the context of the crisis in Greece, economic nationalism has become manifest as a solution to the national economy. The specific case chosen is a citizens’ movement and its campaign for the promotion of ethnocentric consumption. A close examination of the campaign (We Consume What We Produce) reveals the historical alignment of the state’s and citizens’ economic interests, the reverberation of state narrative from the 1980s and exclusionary nationalism which is also used by fascists. Campaigns for ethnocentric consumption limit the creativity of consumer politics. First, this phenomena appears to be an alternative vehicle for political parties. Second, it is tied around a normative narrative of economic recovery, which is particularly mythological. Third, its overall target is to maximise competitiveness on a global scale, and finally, it demonstrates a densely dangerous relationship with economic nationalism. Yet, it is important to situate this phenomenon within the context of consumer cultures under austerity, especially as more creative modalities of social economy initiatives by grassroots groups have been re-socialising the market

Responsible retailing and the Greek crisis? Corporate engagement, CSR communication and social media

Since the financial crisis hit the Greek geography, retailers have responded tactically in terms of their financial stability, but also in terms of safeguarding their reputation in a changing terrain. This can be problematised as responsible retailing; this is explored through formal CSR communication and informal social media communication. This chapter exposes the ways in which promotional culture manifests as corporate engagement with a society, and questions the legitimacy of CSR communication in times of crisis. Through the examination of four national supermarkets, a systematic analysis of their CSR reports and particularly their social media use, I argue that the demonstration of responsible retailing in crisis ranges from practical to symbolic restructuring of market strategy to remain relevant in an uncertain terrain of national consumption

Coffee activism and the politics of fair trade and ethical consumption in the global north: political consumerism and cultural citizenship

In a politically uncertain and distrusted world, citizens appear to be seeking political expression in their everyday lives and quite prominently in their consumption practices. In advanced consumer societies, the politics of consumption have come to the centre stage. This book elaborates on the grounded perceptions, practices and problematizations of the equation of political action and market action. It presents the opportunities and hindrances of alternative forms of partaking in civic life by exploring how coffee activism presents a fruitful opportunity for citizens to participate in political life, how cultural citizenship can offer insights into the operation of everyday politics and how neoliberal narratives are framing discourses of coffee activism. The politics behind products can illuminate global tensions and engage citizens in social justice, but at the same time can confine civic action in the marketplace and anesthetise political action

Reading between the digital lines: narrating the political rhetoric of ethical consumption

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Consumer activism: promotional culture and resistance

"A crucial intervention to both critical studies of consumption and research into activism. It authoritatively explores the complex and multiplying links between branding and neoliberal culture, consumer practices and social justice." – Professor Mehita Iqani, Stellenbosch University "Eleftheria Lekakis reminds us that as consumers, we can do much more than just buy our way out of social or political problems." – Professor Melissa Aronczyk, Rutgers University Consumption and resistance are entwined. From buying fair-trade, to celebrity advocates for social causes, to subvertising and anti-consumerist grassroots movements, consumer activism is now a key part of our fight for social and environmental justice. This book is a comprehensive exploration of the complexities and dilemmas of using the marketplace as an arena for politics. It goes beyond simply buying or boycotting to critically explore how individuals, collectives, corporations and governments do politics with and through consumption

Adversaries of advertising: anti-consumerism and subvertisers’ critique and practice

Anti-consumerism is a rich and diverse field of advocacy and activism and has historically been studied in terms of its tactics, representations and ideologies. This paper presents an original contribution to this field through, first, its presentation of primary research conducted among subvertising practitioners in an international context. Subvertising (aka culture jamming) can be both a movement and a set of tactics used by movements. As an emergent anti-consumerist social movement, it has been connecting individuals and collectives in transnational actions against advertising. Drawing on twenty-four interviews with subvertisers in seven countries, I illustrate their perspectives of advertising as a problem, as well as their practices as responses to that. I argue that their theory and practice of anti-consumerism goes beyond a for/against binary which regards advertising as an ideological enemy. Instead, they protest the deleterious effects of contemporary Habermasian ‘publicity’. Thus, the second contribution of this paper is in its application of a grounded theory approach complemented by framing theory to gain insights with respect to those, specifically in terms of public wellbeing, damage to democracy, and damage to the environment. To this set of problems, they offer solutions oriented towards critical pedagogy or policy change. Mobilising all tools at their disposal, from media production to media disruption, subvertisers are involved in the struggle against consumer capitalism, in both cultural and material terms. In their articulation of resistance narratives, and through their variant and often coordinated practices, subvertisers are united in a transnational anti-consumerist social movement