Consumer Behavior

Millennial Perspectives on Social Justice and the Commitment to Buying Black

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Abstract

The expectation that brands and companies align with their values has increased millennial willingness to boycott products. In 2018, about one-third of millennials and Generation X participated in at least one company boycott in the U.S. (Ruff, 2019). Because there is no singular millennial experience, researchers suggest analyzing millennials from multiple perspectives (Council et al., 2020) to gain a complete picture of millennial motivations. As a group, millennials are more influenced by their commitments to ethical consumption than product price (Lopez-Fernandez, 2020), and differ in their awareness and engagement with political and social issues (Bucic et al., 2012). Few existing studies investigate connections between gender, race, brand loyalty, and corporate social responsibility (Harvey, 2022). To address this research gap, this paper introduces millennial Black women’s interpretation of social justice in their generation and their commitment to ethical consumption through purchasing from Black-owned companies and boycotting others.

Keywords: millennials, boycotting, Black-owned companies, beauty, social justice

How to Cite:

Reed, J., (2022) “Millennial Perspectives on Social Justice and the Commitment to Buying Black”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 79(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.15948