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.

Impassioned and always accessible, Eleftheria Lekakis explores:

• The media and economic logics which privilege elite activists.

• The real opportunities to resist and redirect promotional culture.

• Consumer activism as collective and community-building.

• The politicisation of celebrity influencers.

• The centrality of digital media technology.

• A range of transnational case studies pushing the field beyond the Global North.

Consumer Activism: Promotional Culture and Resistance covers the full breadth of theory and practice you need to know. It is an essential resource for understanding, researching and engaging with the global phenomenon of consumer activism. 

Dr Eleftheria Lekakis is senior lecturer in Media and Communications at the School of Media, Arts, and Humanities at the University of Sussex.