Swap party,charity shop,or clothing dump? How consumer activists frame emergent object pathways to discipline their value outcomes

Abstract

Consumer activists can change markets to better serve their higher-order values by creating new object pathways, for example, developing collaborative consumption schemes to promote sustainability. But how do activists make sure that new object pathways actually lead to the desired value outcomes? In this paper, we explore the framing strategies consumer activists employ to ensure that object pathways are understood and used in accordance with their intended value outcomes. We focus on the value system of fashion and the rise of an emergent, consumer-driven object pathway within this system, the swap party. Based on interviews, participant observation, and social media data, we argue that activists can shape the understandings of object pathways and steer them towards producing the intended value outcomes through four framing strategies: spatio-temporal framing, narrative framing, techno-material framing, and regulatory framing. In the discussion, we explain how these findings contribute to research on consumer movements, the role of framing in market dynamics, and collaborative consumption practices.