2004/09/01 by Steven M. Kates, Steven Kates · 375 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Advertising #Business #Collective action #Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification #Digital Marketing and Social Media #Dynamics (music) #Framing (construction) #Legitimacy #Media, Gender, and Advertising #Political science #Politics #Psychology #Public relations #Qualitative research #Social dynamics #Social psychology #Social science #Sociology
paper · doi:10.1086/422122
published in Journal of Consumer Research 31(2), 455-464 (Oxford University Press)
openalex publication_date 2004/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Certain brands attain legitimacy (i.e., social fitness) through existing frames and dynamic framing processes described in this article. Drawing on qualitative data collected from gay consumers, this article explores ways brands are cocreated in a non-brand-focused community. Collective action frames—shared ways of interpreting meanings within social interaction—provide the connection between a community and its legitimate brands. Informants routinely inscribe some brands with the frames of the gay community and, when applying dynamic framing processes, assess whether other brands share a social fit with the meanings of the gay community. Implications for authenticity and brand legitimacy are discussed.