Resumen

ALBUQUERQUE, Fábio; BELLINI, Carlo; PEREIRA, Rita  y  MOTA, Flavio. Motivations for anti-consumerist cyber activism in anti-brand virtual communities. Rev. Portuguesa e Brasileira de Gestão [online]. 2010, vol.9, n.1-2, pp.64-74. ISSN 1645-4464.

Searching for the links between cyber activism, anti-consumption, and anti-brand virtual communities, this research identifies factors that motivate consumers in the practice of anti-consumerist cyber activism in virtual social networks. Cyber activism or online activism is a set of computer-mediated opposition and resistance acts against injustices and social disparities, socio-environmental offenses, and authoritarian and discriminatory public policies, as well as anti-consumption movements against industries, hegemonic brands and dominant ideologies. From a netnographic perspective, we studied one of the largest anti-brand virtual communities accessible through Orkut - a tool for virtual social networking - with the aim of unveiling the motivations of those consumers for anti-consumerist cyber activism. A six-month experience within that community in 2009 enabled us to access more than four thousand messages shared by members, and results show that there are four main drivers of cyber activism (a concern for the global impact of consumption, resistance against consumption, ethics and voluntary simplicity, and brand rejection and avoidance) and two drivers of counter-anti-consumerist cyber activism (pro-brand actions, and the separation between consumption and cultural alienation).

Palabras clave : Cyber Activism; Anti-Consumerism; Anti-Brand Virtual Communities; Netnography.

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