Journal of Public Policy & Marketing

Responsible marketing, policy, and consumer behavior are integral to ending wars, creating peace, and enhancing sustainable well-being. This editorial commentary introduces and provides an overview of a special issue comprising marketing research intended to prevent or ameliorate negative consequences from war and other forms of violent conflict. It features 11 scholarly articles by globally dispersed scholars using a range of methodologies at various levels of analysis. These distinguished researchers were motivated by keen awareness of and deep abhorrence for the deleterious effects of systemic violence, as well as by examples of policies implemented and products and services that have brought relief to the devastated and dispossessed. This compendium makes clear that marketing scholarship and practice can be effective in advancing well-being for populations suffering from systemic violence and related destruction, deprivation, and uncertainty. The scholarship is timely and compelling, as war and other forms of violent social conflict continue to inflict great harm on people, societies, countries, and our planet; it makes tangible a shared belief that constructive engagement via coordinated policy and marketing innovations can help end and mitigate conflict, and is vital to creating and sustaining peace and prosperity.

Africa experiences one-third of all conflicts globally, resulting in the diminishment of human, social, and economic well-being; high levels of insecurity; poverty; and disrupted marketing systems. Drawing on the experiences of African countries, the article illuminates the ways in which the slave trade and, later, the colonization of the African continent fomented the social and economic convulsions that continue to erupt into continuing cycles of social conflict. Today these are manifested in the neocolonial influence of public policy on the continent by international organizations, funding bodies, and local and international institutions that control the public policy discourse and resources. The authors argue that if marketing systems are to enhance well-being and reduce social conflict, marketing policy makers need to contest failed “external to Africa” policy frameworks and look to endogenous policies better suited to contemporary African challenges. A case study of Rwanda illuminates how endogenous, “home-grown” decolonial and Afrocentric policy can create enduring peace and improve marketing systems and well-being. The authors call for research at the nexus of public policy and African marketing systems that adopts decolonized, endogenous, and Afrocentric perspectives to address this lacuna in marketing and public policy research and practice.

Prior research on refugee migration documents the acculturation processes through which refugees adapt to the cultural context of the host society. In this research, the authors complement the insights from prior research by uncovering how the host society's provisioning institutions coadapt in response to the consumption adequacy needs of refugees. To understand these coadaptation practices, they gather qualitative data from low-income Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who were repatriated to India in the face of violent ethnic conflict. The data aid in theorizing the concept of institutional coadaptation work, defined as the dyadic coadaptation of refugees and a host society's provisioning institutions, to serve the consumption adequacy needs of refugees. This coadaptation perspective envisages change as a collective process in which agency is distributed among multiple actors in society. More specifically, this research provides focused policy recommendations explaining how the government, market, and community can work collaboratively to address consumption adequacy needs of refugees.

The global refugee crisis presents a complex challenge, with millions experiencing protracted displacement in inhospitable conditions. This study examines the lived experiences of Syrian refugee women in Lebanon, focusing on how they resource hope and maintain well-being amid forced liquidity and uncertainty. Drawing on ethnographic interviews with 26 Syrian refugee women, the authors uncover the profound effects of changed consumer roles and the critical function of agentive anchoring acts of consumption in resourcing hope. The findings reveal that refugees employ four types of anchoring acts—domesticity, spirituality, self-care, and socializing—to momentarily restore normalcy, affirm dignity, and enhance well-being. These acts serve as vessels for resourcing and mobilizing hope, enabling refugees to “live through” their present circumstances while aspiring for a better future. The authors introduce the concept of hope as a social resource that can be collectively shared and mobilized, highlighting the dynamic interplay between hope and hopelessness in refugee experiences. This research contributes to understanding how marketing and service systems can improve refugee well-being in protracted displacement, offering insights for stakeholders to create conditions that foster rather than inhibit subjective well-being to resource hope among vulnerable consumers experiencing protracted displacement and involuntary liquidity in global modernity.

Extant literature considers marketing activities as instrumental for postwar recovery and peace-building. However, war is an ongoing lived experience for numerous societies across the world. Focusing on the role of marketing during war, this article presents a study examining how and why people living in war adversity deploy, perceive, and respond to war-related marketing activism actions (MAA). War-related MAA are acts through which brands/organizations and consumers create or draw on marketing meanings to convey and to enact stances and experiences related to war. This study adopts a multimodal qualitative methodology integrating photo elicitation and in-depth interviews with consumers and with marketing and management professionals in Ukraine, the country enduring invasion and war by Russia at the time of this article’s publication. Analyses through a community resilience theoretical lens generate a conceptualization that demonstrates how war-related MAA are harnessed and serve as a medium in community dialogues concerning envisaged resilience trajectories (survival, creativity and growth, and recovery). The article advances understanding of marketing activism during war by illuminating its potential and boundary conditions for serving as a community resilience resource. It also offers public policy development directions for marketing practice, organizations, and governments.

Following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia, hundreds of U.S. companies exited the Russian market. Others continue to conduct business there despite most Americans’ opposition to the invasion of Ukraine. Hence, justifying continuing business in Russia has become difficult. This study examines whether continuing operations in Russia affected the legitimation strategies of American companies, compared with those that completely withdrew from the Russian market. Content analysis of corporate communications revealed that most U.S. firms continuing operations in Russia reported only operational risks, while companies that exited the Russian market actively interacted with multiple groups of stakeholders about their stance on the war and their relief initiatives. The findings also suggest that reliance on a unidirectional reporting of operational risks may contribute only to shareholder support, while using two-way communications can be beneficial for legitimizing corporate activities and, by extension, for socially responsible marketing. Discovering what and how organizations communicate in unsettled sociopolitical environments provides new insights into the strategies used for shaping stakeholders’ perception of organizational actions.

Following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, many global brands took a stand on the crisis, which often elicited polarized consumer responses. This study explores this phenomenon—peace brand activism (PBA)—by conducting an inductive analysis of global brands’ responses to the Russia–Ukraine war as disclosed on social media channels across three different platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The analysis highlights the range of PBA tactics that global brands employ, revealing diverse action- and statement-based forms that they can adopt, including instances of pseudo-activism. In addition, this study identifies seven key characteristics of PBA: substantiality, nature, side-taking, location specificity, responsiveness, persistence, and diversity, each manifesting across spectra of differential ends. This work elucidates the evolving role of businesses in promoting peace and offers valuable guidance for managers navigating the complex terrain of PBA, emphasizing the importance of brands being cognizant of the various PBA options and thoroughly weighing the implications of taking a stand on sensitive geopolitical issues. The findings bear important policy implications, suggesting that policy makers must consider PBA's impact on bilateral relations and collaborate with brands to develop informed, strategic PBA initiatives. Finally, the authors outline important avenues for future research.

Following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, many companies withdrew from or altered their Russian operations. This research explores the impact of such corporate actions on three important consumer mindset metrics: net brand buzz, consideration set inclusion, and purchase intent. The authors also examine the moderating role of the firm's environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reputation, the type of business (B2B vs. B2C), and the focal firm's decisions relative to peers. The authors test their propositions using a unique data set that combines a firm's decision related to its Russian operations, consumer mindset metrics, and ESG performance after controlling for firm-level factors. The findings indicate that decisions such as withdrawal from or suspension of activities in Russia are positively related to consumer mindset metrics. Moreover, this effect is accentuated for firms with a strong prior ESG reputation such that they experience a greater level of net brand buzz, brand consideration set inclusion, and purchase intent following the decision compared with the period before such decisions. This study contributes to understanding the relationship between such corporate actions and consumer mindset metrics in a novel geopolitical context, providing valuable insights for managerial decision making and public policy.

This research examines the influence of CEO versus brand communication on public engagement and digital activism during the Russia–Ukraine war. Brand communication refers to messages sent out through an organization's social media accounts, whereas CEO communication comes from the executive's personal account. The authors depart from an analysis of 236,119 tweets investigating the effects of message sender (CEO vs. brand), message framing (self vs. other), and message appeal (informational vs. emotional) on engagement (i.e., likes, retweets, and replies). To further understand, they subsequently deploy a 2 × 2 between-subjects design (N = 608) that introduces scenarios where either a CEO or brand proposes a public policy campaign, advocating support for U.S. citizens (self framing) or Ukrainian civilians (other framing). Key findings reveal that CEO communications foster greater engagement and digital activism than brand messages. CEO communication that merges self framed with informational appeals or other framed with emotional appeals outperforms brand messages regarding public engagement. In addition, CEO campaigns centered on Ukrainian civilians amplify digital activism, mirroring findings when brands approach the war's implications for U.S. citizens. Together, these insights unveil the intricate dance of message sender, framing, and appeal during global geopolitical events, providing vital knowledge for organizations and policy makers aiming to optimize public backing in times of war.

Over the last 20 years, scholars have closely examined the political and social conditions that promote peaceful conflict resolution and those that exacerbate violence. Accordingly, there is much greater understanding of violence and peace processes. Mostly lacking from this scholarship, however, is a role for private firms. International firms are often present in societies prone to conflict. Recent research suggests firms can play an important role in conflict prevention and resolution, and business scholars suggest these actors can reduce tensions in conflict zones. Yet, little is known about how multinational corporations impact conflict resolution dynamics. This project explores how the private sector affects conflict. Using new data, the authors show the effects of an active private sector on the occurrence and outcomes of civil war negotiations. The findings show that corporate calls for peace are effective at encouraging states and rebels in democracies to negotiate, but only increase the likelihood of reaching a peace agreement in nondemocracies.

Amid Lebanon's enduring conflict and its consequences, young Lebanese are driven to seek stability and opportunities abroad, impacting the demographic balance among religious communities, which generates tensions and threatens the fragile peace prevailing in the country. This study delves into these migration dynamics, exploring how marketing systems can mitigate challenges and encourage emigrants to return to Lebanon. Semistructured interviews with Lebanese migrants across five continents were conducted to ascertain primary motivations for emigration, obstacles to return, and factors encouraging repatriation. Findings reveal that while young Lebanese pursue better lives abroad, insecurity and persistent barriers hinder their return. By integrating marketing systems and adapting the Transformative Refugee Service Experience Framework, this research proposes comprehensive public policy and managerial strategies tailored to Lebanon's context. Key recommendations include targeted job placement programs, enhanced communication with the diaspora, and community-based educational reforms. By fostering a hospitable environment, Lebanon can support sustainable development, resilience, and well-being, encouraging the return of its young migrants. This study bridges theory and practice, offering actionable insights for policy makers and extending existing frameworks to other sociopolitical settings.