An Investigation on Contemporary Consumer Resistance: How Web 2.0 Makes Consumers Powerful

As a consequence of the ongoing globalization, more and more corporations start to target an international audience. Accordingly, consumers have to deal with a rising number of product offers. When trying to filter only relevant information which are interesting for themselves, consumers have to decrypt at the same time what is the meaning behind the different advertising messages circulating in daily life. Consequently, it is comprehensible that people become more and more stressed as well as angry nowadays. In order to get a better understanding of contemporary consumer resistance, this study is aimed at giving an overview on this topic. Only by explaining postmodernity in detail, it is possible to show what has changed in terms of consumer culture compared to the era of modernity. This is the starting point for the investigation on consumer resistance within the underlying study. In this sense, it is shown why people develop critical attitudes and what finally makes them willing to participate. On the basis of these findings, different forms of resistance are considered. The extent to which the Internet has an influence on consumer behavior and resistance is investigated as well. After presenting how conditions for consumers have improved especially in the times of Web 2.0, the extent to which they are more willing to actively take part in consumer resistance is examined in the next step. For this purpose investigations based on real findings were examined. Reading this study people shall understand what consumer resistance means. Here included are different forms of consumer resistance as well as consumers' motivation in participating. In turn, also corporations can profit from these insights given. Here it has to be kept in mind that understanding consumers' behavior also gives marketers a great chance to profit from their critics.

Martin König was born in 1983 in Bernburg/Saale (Germany). After receiving a Bachelor degree in International Business Studies from the Paderborn University, he continued his academic career at the Viadrina University in Frankfurt/Oder. There he studied International Business Administration with an emphasis on marketing. Thanks to his additional studies at Reims Management School (France), for which he was awarded a M.Sc. degree (Diplôme de Supérieure de Commerce), the author could continually enlarge his knowledge in marketing. Currently Martin König is working in the field of online marketing as an affiliate manager. Since entering the world of affiliate marketing in 2010, he combines his theoretical knowledge with practical experiences. In order to be steadily up to date in online marketing, the author regularly visits both training events and fairs.