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This paper aims to examine the structural relationships among the variables of social cause involvement, attitudes toward the endorser, attitudes toward advertising, attitudes toward the brand and social cause behavioral intentions. Additionally, by using the persuasion knowledge model (PKM) as the guiding framework, the moderating effects of ad perception on the proposed relationship were investigated.

By using Amazon Mechanical Turk, a total of 291 usable surveys were retained for analysis. Following the participants' exposure to the Nike commercial, they completed a survey containing questions about advertising perception and their consequent responses to the advertisement. Structural equation modeling was used to test the conceptual model. Multigroup analysis was also performed to discover any moderating effects of consumers' advertising perception in endorsement effectiveness.

This study highlights the extensive impact of social cause involvement in the domain of celebrity endorsements, while attitudes toward the endorser are not a significant antecedent of celebrity endorsement effectiveness in the sport contexts. Additionally, this study demonstrates and confirms the presence of the moderating effects of advertisement perception on the proposed relationship. This supports the general premise of the PKM that consumers' attitudes and thoughts are influenced based on consumers' judgment of persuasion attempts.

The current study extends the line of research on the role of advertising perception in the domain of celebrity endorsement. In particular, this study found that the PKM is a theoretically sound model that can be used to predict sports fans' attitudinal and behavioral responses.

To measure the relationships between varieties of patriotism and fan reactions to anthem-linked athlete activism and to test the effects of teammate allyship.

In this study of US sport fans (n = 519), the authors examine whether two varieties of patriotism—the affective “symbolic patriotism” and the cognitive “uncritical patriotism”—might explain fans' reactions (support v. opposition) to anthem-linked athlete activism. The authors also consider whether fans' acceptance of nonactivist teammate allyship moderates patriotism influences on those reactions.

Using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), the authors posit and show that fans' reactions to athlete activism are driven more strongly by uncritical patriotism than by symbolic patriotism. The authors also show that fans' acceptance of nonactivist teammate allyship significantly moderate the strength and direction of fans' reactions to athlete activism.

The authors contribute substantive, new knowledge into the sways of athlete activism, teammate allyship and fan patriotism within the sport world. By way of novel heterotrait-monotrait ratio of correlations, the authors show evidence of discriminant validities of symbolic patriotism and uncritical patriotism. Using PLS-SEM moderation tests, the authors also show that fans' acceptance of teammate allyship moderates the influences of these patriotism types differently.

Few empirical studies to date have investigated sport fans' reactions to athletes' displays of social activism (e.g. taking a knee to protest racism).

This paper aims to shed light on the emerging position of companies taking stances on sociopolitical issues and the impact this has on consumers.

The paper uses focus groups, interviews and consumer experiments in various countries, to provide insights as to why brands are taking sociopolitical stances.

Consumers expect brands to take a stance on sociopolitical issues. However, to be credible, a stance needs to be rooted in a long-term commitment that aligns with the brand’s strategy and values. Perceived authenticity is key.

Future studies should aim at broader generalizability and should address various industries.

Differentiating a brand through a sociopolitical stance requires a strategic approach. Brand managers need to identify which issues they should support, how to engage with them and the risks and opportunities involved.

While the impact of brands adopting a sociopolitical stance has been discussed in the mainstream media, there has been a lack of empirical evidence to support the arguments. The results of the four studies discussed in the paper provide insights and demonstrate the brand-related opportunities and risks of taking a sociopolitical stance.

Celebrity endorsements are common, especially sports celebrities. Understanding the impact such celebrities' social activism statements have on the brands the celebrities are affiliated with is particularly important. This study aims to examine how consumers respond to social statements made by both companies and sports celebrities and how those reactions influence consumer perceptions of associated brands.

A pre-test/post-test experimental design was utilized to gather responses to pro-social messages from both athletes associated with a brand and messages directly from the brands.

Messages from celebrities were evaluated as being more important than similar messages directly from the company. Parasocial relationships between the consumer and the celebrity endorser were found to increase brand support and favorable message evaluation. While parasocial relationships did not directly influence feelings of reactance, the effects on message evaluation did lead to a decrease in reactance to pro-social messages.

Findings in this paper provide guidance for brands as the brands navigate pro-social messaging and determine the brands' response to endorsers making such statements. Similarly, those advocating for social causes can benefit from the authors' findings by understanding how social messages directly from celebrities are received more favorably than messages directly from the brands.

Brands today operate in a dynamic business environment, which often requires them to take courageous actions, from taking a stand on controversial issues to responding to changing market needs. However, these actions are not merely strategic but also represent a unique aspect of the brands’ identity, which includes holding up to their core values and being resilient to social pressure. To better understand this positive virtue, the current study introduces the concept of brand bravery – a novel brand archetype that emulates the brand’s distinct identity. This study aims to conceptualize brand bravery and develop a psychometrically sound scale to measure it and investigate its relationship with positive brand relationship outcomes.

Two qualitative studies were conducted to identify the dimensions of perceived brand bravery. Three empirical studies develop and validate the proposed measurement scale and confirm the construct’s nomological validity by proposing a framework that explains the outcomes of perceived brand bravery.

Results from multiple studies support a seven-factor second-order reflective scale of perceived brand bravery, with dimensions altruism, bold, courageous, determined, enduring, fearless and gritty. The construct of brand bravery is found discriminant from other conceptually distinct but related brand attributes. Nomological validity tests further suggest that perceived brand bravery leads to positive consumer-related outcomes such as brand advocacy behaviors, positive attitude and consumer brand identification.

Brand bravery provides a vital roadmap to marketers who have sought to create a leading brand that can stay relevant in times of disruption. The multi-factor scale can help managers track, which dimension of the brand bravery scale is more relevant for shaping overall bravery perception.

The study introduces a novel brand attribute that has not been previously discussed beyond social and moral psychology literature. It conceptualizes brand bravery that will strengthen the understanding of this specific brand characteristic and provides a practical scale to measure brand bravery.

The purpose of this work is (1) to supply a framework of actors in sport sponsorship and articulate the service relationships that support these partnerships and (2) to propose research questions in this space that are unaddressed and forward-looking.

Sponsorship is part of a complex network of actors and service relationships found in sport. The sports team, activity, or event is a sport property, often with long-term and dynamic service relationships. The authors consider how a sponsor's relationship with the sport property intersects with organizing bodies, venues, communities and society. The authors identify clusters of actors that interact with and influence other clusters (e.g. governing bodies, media, host community and venue/teams/fans) within an ecosystem, paying special attention to aspects of co-creation and co-destruction and the feedback loops that cause them.

Through this analysis, the authors identify areas of needed research at the intersection of sport sponsorship and service. The model synthesizes the literature from service-dominant logic, sports, sponsorship, systems thinking and co-creation/co-destruction research areas. Using the model and relevant cases, the authors can better understand the complexities of sport service relationships and advance research at the intersection of sport sponsorship and service.

This is the first sport sponsorship service ecosystem model. It is also the first integration of systems thinking with constructs in sport sponsorship and services.

This paper aims to explore how and why ideas regarding “intersectional” approaches to feminism and Black activism are drawn on in marketing content related to the concept of being “woke” (invested in addressing social injustices). It considers which subject positions are represented as part of this and what they reveal about contemporary issues concerning advertising, gender, race and activism.

This study involves an interpretive and critical discursive analysis of so-called feminist advertising (“femvertising”) and marketing examples that make use of Black social justice activist ideas.

Findings illuminate how marketing simultaneously enables the visibility and erasure of “intersectional”, feminist and Black social justice activist issues, with the use of key racialised and gendered subject positions: White Saviour, Black Excellence, Strong Black Woman (and Mother) and “Woke” Change Agent.

This research signals how brands (mis)use issues concerning commercialised notions of feminism, equality and Black social justice activism as part of marketing that flattens and reframes liberationist politics while upholding the neoliberal idea that achievement and social change requires individual ambition and consumption rather than structural shifts and resistance.

This work can aid the development of advertising standards regulatory approaches which account for nuances of stereotypical representations and marketing’s connection to intersecting issues regarding racism and sexism.

This research outlines a conceptualisation of the branding of “woke” bravery, which expands our understanding of the interdependency of issues related to race, gender, feminism, activism and marketing. It highlights marketing responses to recent socio-political times, which are influenced by public discourse concerning movements, including Black Lives Matter and Me Too.

In this invited professional insight paper the author draws parallels between recent debates on racism, Black Lives Matter and related research in sport and cognate domains.

Drawing on Critical Race Theory (CRT) the paper contends that 1) sport is a contested site, 2) sport is a microcosm of society 3) “race” and everyday racism are central to our understanding of sport. It overlays this critique with a recognition of the dynamic and multi-dimensional nature of racisms.

While the deaths of Black lives are being mourned it is argued that our attention can also become distracted by narrow manifestations of racism (overt). Such approaches leave key stakeholders efforts focused on the individual to the detriment of challenging systemic policies, practices and dispositions that entrench racism. The color-coded racism of past decades is still with us but in addition to this, our critiques and activism require continued surveillance of cultural, institutional and structural arrangements in the everyday that remain nebulous, complex and difficult to challenge.

This is a viewpoint paper. The author draws on previous original empirical work and current insights to draw parallels between sport, Black Lives Matter and broader social contexts. Due to limitations in the extant literature in regard to the section on cycling and ethnicity, examples are drawn primarily from the US and UK.

This focus on sport and leisure past times demonstrates that the Black experience of “race” and racism transcends social boundaries and cannot be perceived as restricted to narrow social domains.

Racisms are embedded in society and therefore its cultural products of which sport is a significant one should not be marginalised in antiracism efforts and activist scholarship.

This paper draws on the author's original published research and current insights. The paper makes a contribution to the development of critical race theorising to the sociology of sport, and broader ethnic and racial studies.

It is an arduous process for corporations to determine if social action advertising is a complementary fit with their respective brands. This study aims to explore opportunities and disadvantages when brands consider cause-related partnerships as part of their overall marketing strategy. There are motivators and detractors related to social actions promoted by brands. It is essential for organizations, institutions and corporations to better understand if, or when, to use advertising that contributes to the social good.

Phase one of the study was a qualitative analysis conducted through personal interviews. Coded passages from interviews were aggregated into themes, which later defined ten social action advertising measures. The second phase in the study was a quantitative analysis (N = 506) that tested consumer involvement with the social action advertisement “You Love Me.” The spot was designed for the Dr. Dre Beats brand, in response to the George Floyd murder in 2020.

Brands need to carefully examine their own histories, political associations and concern for all consumer segments, prior to evoking social change. Differentiations arising from political views and gender identity are discussed. Regressions indicate “social ads that use stereotypes” was the key significant predictor of emotional involvement. Consumers feeling “respected and represented in social action ads” was the key significant predictor of fact-based cognitive involvement. “Social action ads distorted through virtue signaling” were 38% more likely to effect brand purchase when consumers viewed the social action ad.

This is a nonfunded research study. Respondents who participated in interviews, and those selected for data collection, were solicited through convenience and judgmental nonprobability sampling. These data are racially and financially biased. Seventy-six percent of respondents in the racial variable were white; 51% stated they were “wealthy and have a lot of assets.” Neither variable is representative of the general population. In the future, researchers should collect a nonbiased stratified probability sample that would more closely reflect the general population and consumer audience.

This paper builds on the recommendations of Farrukh et al. (2021) who call for more published research in the areas of human rights violations and social change. The results of this study represent a cautionary tale. Political dogma within a polarized society has created pressure for chief marketing officers to integrate political values into brand values. The risk of creating adversarial factions has created a risky environment for brand developers and strategists (Mahoney, 2022).

The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of using digital shorts (Pytash et al., 2017) focusing on social issues in social studies classrooms.

Qualitative case study is used in this study.

Digital shorts focused on important social issues, and included their beliefs and perspectives about their social issue, as well as insights into their developing identities as citizens. The authors’ findings demonstrate how this assignment can be the gateway for discussions regarding social issues, how students perceive their identities tied to contemporary social issues, and how they make sense of these issues within multimodal compositions.

The findings from this research have implications for researching the effectiveness of digital media production analysis for students’ learning of social issues.

The findings from this research have implications for exploring how digital media production analysis can be incorporated into social studies courses.

Although the push for social studies teachers to provide spaces for students to demonstrate these capacities, few examples exist in the literature.