Exploring ongoing brand activism discourse on Reddit: ‘The Only Rainbow That Matters’.
(A2026-132574)

AUTHORS

Jamie Powell, University of Bath; Andrew Crane, University of Bath; Sarah Glozer, School of Management, University of Bath

ABSTRACT

Brands taking sociopolitical stances reshape the consumer–corporation relationship. This practice, known as brand activism, moves beyond traditional marketing to include explicit messaging and actions. Because brand activism is partisan, it unfolds across opposing political camps, circulating through wider socio-political discourse rather than contained communities. Brand publics - fluid, independent collectives - capture this broader space where polarized groups intersect. This study connects brand activism and brand publics through a netnography of Skittles’ “The Only Rainbow That Matters” Pride campaign. We observed two discursive patterns: convergent discourse, which focuses on the core elements of the brand’s activism, and divergent discourse, which moves beyond the campaign and into adjacent or unrelated discussions.