ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the possibilities of political consumerism or consumer-citizenship directed against transnational corporations. Selling eco-chic is now a minor part of the business of The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC). The chair was modeled on the classic aluminum Emeco Navy Chair designed in 1944 for the US Navy and manufactured in a way to make it three times harder than steel. TCCC has engaged in other co-branding efforts that qualify as eco-chic. Political consumerism has a long history, as the etymology of the word boycott attests. Brand valuation acknowledges, if only implicitly, that brands are contingent outcomes of relationships—ongoing, changing, not always predictable relationships. There are two relationships in particular to which the idea of brandization calls attention: the crucial relationship between a brand owner and brand users (or consumers) and the relationship between brand owners and concerned citizens who are not necessarily consumers—more or less enduring publics that emerge around specific issues or events.
