BRAND ACTIVISM TYPOLOGIES

Global and local brands have increasingly embraced brand activism in recent years. In brand activism, brands not only take a stand on social, political, environmental, or economic issues but also take action to solve these problems. Despite the popularity of the practice, there is still much to explore about the dynamics of brand activism strategies including how activist brands’ strategies differ. Considering the brand activism literature in Turkey, most research on activism is examined as a homogeneous category, with little regard for the nuances in brands’ use of brand activism. The diversity of brand activism strategies is rarely discussed in the literature. Hence, brand activism typologies were analyzed and discussed to study the characteristics of brand activism strategies. This paper also discusses the defining elements of brand activism and purpose-driven marketing that set them apart from other marketing approaches. The role and scope of brand activism were then reviewed and conceptualized. The paper aims to offer guidance on how to conceptualize and categorize activist brands and provide a starting point to map out the ecosystems of activist brands to academics and marketing professionals. This study also reveals that the cultural dimension of brand activism has been overlooked in the literature and message strategies used in communication activities have been placed out of scope.