The social phenomenon of trolling: understanding the discourse and social practices of online provocation

ABSTRACT

Despite its benefits, the online environment fosters darker consumer behaviours including conflict, revenge, and aggression. Trolling has recently entered the marketing lexicon and poses a substantial threat for consumers and brands. However, current understandings of trolling are limited by a lack of empirical research, and a focus on undiscernible ‘trolls’ and their behaviours. Accordingly, the term ‘trolling’ has become a catch-all to describe almost any online misbehaviour. This research takes a broader perspective by examining the historical and discursive conditions that have produced trolling and its social practices. Combining a Foucauldian archaeology with marketing practitioner interviews, this study contributes a comprehensive understanding of trolling as a social phenomenon, the social practices that constitute it, and how trolling is enacted within consumer-brand interactions.

KEYWORDS:

• Trolling
• brand trolling
• customer revenge
• brand attacks
• online firestorms
• social media

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the following people for their constructive comments on earlier versions of this work: Mike Beverland, Gianna Eckhardt, Mark Tadajewski, and the reviewers who provided constructive, specific, and valuable feedback for the improvement of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest is reported by the authors.

Notes

1. These descriptions are a summary of each historical period, based on analysis conducted across an archive of over 8,000 historical documents about trolling.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Vlad Demsar

Vlad Demsar is a Lecturer of Marketing at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. His research interests include consumer culture, consumer activism, digital cultures, and advertising.

Jan Brace-Govan

Jan Brace-Govan is an Associate Professor at Monash University, Australia. Her research interests centres on cultural aspects of contemporary consumption and includes critical marketing analyses with a focus on moral consumption, gender issues and inequalities.

Gavin Jack

Gavin Jack is Professor of Management at Monash University, Australia. His research interests include postcolonial theory and analysis of management, organisation and marketing topics, and gender and cultural diversity in the workplace.

Sean Sands

Sean Sands is Professor of Marketing at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. His research examines customer experience in consumption, advertising, and digital cultures.