Cancel? Cancelling…Cancelled! Cancel Culture, Social Media, and the Impact on Consumer Behaviour

Abstract

Social media has grown massively over recent years and shows no signs of slowing down. With this growth in social media, the prevalence of cases of ‘cancel culture’ has grown massively. The focus of this research is cancel culture, social media, and the impact on consumer behaviour. This research aims to explore the phenomenon of cancel culture across social media, before investigating the impact of cancel culture itself on consumer behaviour. Firstly, a review of existing literature on cancel culture, social media, and consumer behaviour was conducted so as to provide academic background for the research project. Methodology was then outlined, discussing qualitative methods of data collection and why this was suitable for the study at hand. As well as this, theory of thematic analysis was discussed in relation to the suitability to this project. The data generated from the interviews, as well as thematic analysis of tweets, informed the key themes explored in chapter four. The themes emerging from the data are presented, as well as the codes that informed them, in tables. The recurring themes, these being change in perception and behaviour, divisiveness and negativity, and brand impact, are all discussed in detail in order to provide conclusions and recommendations relating to the research question.