Activist consumer movements: Founder framings versus member self-organisation

Abstract

Consumers become activists whenever they organise themselves into off- or online movements launched to oppose corporate actions and/or foster consumption-based cultural change. Whereas, some readings of such movements focus on the way in which members self-organise their activities, the emphasis here is on the role that a movement’s founders play in framing its activities. Findings from the study of a movement founded by a Cameroonian music enthusiast show that online activities can be affected both by how a movement has been framed by its founder and by the way in which its members self-organise. A founder orchestrates a movement’s coherence, and also the expression of its members, along three lines: by attributing meaning, distributing roles and tasks and promoting creativity.