Selling change for the social good? Assessing stakeholder responses to brand activism

人们越来越不信任现有的机构来解决社会问题，人们正指望企业来未来他们的意识形态信仰(Edelman，2022)。品牌激进主义(BA)是指品牌在营销活动中采用社会和政治激进主义(Sarkar和Kotler，2018)。由于规模大，公司能够并确实推动社会事业，但总是受到商业目标的影响，这些目标塑造了问题的处理方式。这是一个由技术资助的协作博士奖项目，在项目合作伙伴(联合利华、品牌内容营销协会和Good Agency)的支持下，本研究将重点关注BA活动(来自欧洲、北美和中东和北非市场)，这些活动通过快速消费品(FMCG)促进妇女和女孩的身份认同和赋权。在那些认为自己是跨性别者和非二元者的竞选活动中，这些群体的代表将被包括在分析中。研究问题品牌激进主义竞选活动和激进主义利益相关者在竞选活动产生过程中和活动启动后如何互动？A)不同的利益相关者如何识别、阐述、衡量和评估关键的成功因素？b)品牌如何选择反映其内部和品牌价值观的原因？C)社会运动和公民社会行为者如何接受和反应品牌激进主义？D)品牌如何评估和参与这些回应？“利益相关者”目前被定义为消费者、员工、非政府组织、慈善机构、教育工作者、社区领袖和活动家，但可能会发生变化。

There is a growing mistrust in established institutions to address societal issues and people are looking towards business to future their ideological beliefs (Edelman, 2022). Brand activism (BA) refers to brands' adoption of social and political activism within marketing campaigns (Sarkar and Kotler, 2018). Companies can, and do, advance social causes due to their scale, yet are always influenced by commercial objectives that shape how issues are engaged with. This is a techne-funded collaborative doctoral award project, and with the support of the project partners (Unilever, The Branded Content Marketing Association and GOOD Agency), this study will focus on BA campaigns (from European, North American and MENA markets) that promote the identity and empowerment of women and girls through fast moving consumer goods (FMCG). In campaigns where those who identify as trans and non-binary are present, representations of these groups will be included in the analysis.Research QuestionHow do brand activism campaigns and activist stakeholders interact during the campaign production process and after the campaign launch? a) How are critical success factors identified, articulated, measured and assessed by different stakeholders?b) How do brands choose causes that reflect their own internal and brand values? c) How do social movement and civil society actors receive and react to brand activism? d) How do brands assess and engage with these responses?"Stakeholders" are currently defined as consumers, employees, NGOs, charities, educators, community leaders and activists but may change.