Anti-Consumption: Exploring the Opposition to Consumer Culture

Hélène Cherrier is an award-winning Professor in Marketing at Skema Business School, Sophia Antipolis, France. Hélène has worked at internationally renowned institutions such as RMIT, Melbourne, Australia; Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia; the American University of Dubai, United Arab Emirates; LUISS University, Rome, Italy; Sydney University, Sydney, Australia, and Westminster University, London, UK. Hélène has been interested in the forces of market constituents responsible for shaping and nurturing unsustainable consumption, often in the context of waste, since completing her PhD at the University of Arkansas focusing on voluntary simplicity and consumer identity. Hélène has edited a book on downshifting and published her work in prestigious journals such as the Journal of Consumer Research; Journal of Business Research, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Consumption, Markets and Culture, Journal of Marketing Management, and Journal ofConsumer Affairs. Hélène has also been an active participant in dumpster diving, home-free living, clothes swapping, and zero waste experiments, and she struggles to maintain a low impact consumption as a mother of five children.

Michael S.W. Lee is an award-winning Associate Professor of Marketing at The University of Auckland with research interests in anti-consumption and consumer resistance, and specific expertise in the area of brand avoidance, innovation resistance, dissatisfaction and complaining behaviours. An offshoot of his doctoral research delved into consumer perceptions of brands associated with genetic modification. Overall he is interested in why people reject certain markets or offerings and how industries can understand consumers better in order to adapt, improve, become more sustainable or, in some cases, overcome resistance. His latest research applies anti-consumption to areas of public policy and consumer well-being, where he is particularly interested in consumer perceptions, attitudes and behaviour towards waste and waste utilisation. He has been awarded over ＄150,000 in funding for various research projects and has published and/or guest edited special issues in The Journal of Business Research; Consumption, Markets and Culture; European Journal of Marketing; Advances in Consumer Research; Journal of Consumer Marketing; Journal of Consumer Behaviour; Journal of Macromarketing; Journal of Global Marketing; Australasian Marketing Journal; Journal of Public Policy and Marketing; Journal of Consumer Affairs; and Psychology & Marketing.

Recognising a need for international collaboration, Mike founded The International Centre of Anti-Consumption Research (ICAR) in 2005. Under his Directorship, ICAR continues to organise international symposiums and special issues in quality journals, providing an avenue of research for hundreds of scholars. Mike’s contribution to the area has resulted in the Association of Consumer Research recognising anti-consumption as an official field of inquiry.