Anti‐brand communities, negotiation of brand meaning, and the learning process: The case of Wal‐Mart

TLDR

The negotiation of brand meaning is a social process where community members engage in brand‑related discourses, interpretations, and sense‑making. The study investigates learning processes used to negotiate brand meaning within the anti‑Wal‑Mart community, employing a case‑study approach grounded in new social movement theory. Using a case‑study method grounded in new social movement theory, the authors examine how community members negotiate brand meaning. The study identifies three learning processes fundamental to social movement formation and mobilization—counterfactual thinking, discursive storytelling, and noncompulsory observation—and discusses their implications for future research.

Abstract

In this article, we employ a case‐study method to investigate the learning processes used to negotiate brand meaning within an anti‐brand community. The negotiation of brand meaning is a social process where community members engage in brand‐related discourses, interpretations, and sense‐making. Situated within new social movement theory, we investigate the anti‐Wal‐Mart community. Our study identifies three learning processes that are fundamental to social movement formation and mobilization: (1) counterfactual thinking, (2) discursive storytelling, and (3) noncompulsory observation. We conclude the article with a discussion of our findings and offer suggestions for future research.