Brands in Culture Wars: Why and How Brand Activism Polarizes Society
Brands increasingly engage in controversial socio-political issues, a practice known as brand activism. While brand activism can be beneficial for brands and society, it can also exacerbate societal polarization, raising questions about the ethics of developing such campaigns. This paper examines why and how brand activism fosters polarization. Through a qualitative study of 32 brand activism campaigns, we unveil a process of brand-driven social conflict imagination, a collective process of imagining society as divided into groups vying for dominance. We identify four types of social conflict imaginations, emphasizing contention about distinct issues: populist battle (organizational rules), political war (government policies), moral crusade (interactional norms), and segregation struggle (group norms). These findings enhance the literature on corporate political activity (CPA) by broadening its scope to include the norms and rules of diverse organizations and the cultural norms underpinning societal power structures. Additionally, we extend discussions of brand activism beyond concerns of the brand image and profitability towards the problematic threats of brand activism for democratic debate. Our study helps managers mitigate the risks of polarization when designing and conducting brand activism campaigns.
Corporate Political Activity, Brand Activism, Culture Wars, Social Imagination, Polarization