This summer, the mainstream news media discovered fan activism when a group of K-Pop (Korean popular music) fans hijacked the registration system for Donald Trump’s Tulsa rally, causing his campaign staff to grossly overestimate turnout. This was not the first time K-Pop fans had interjected themselves into contemporary political debates, whether helping boy band BTS raise several million dollars in support of Black Lives Matter or flooding white supremist sites with pictures of their favorite pop idols.
A number of factors enabled these mostly Generation Z fans to deploy rapidly in support of progressive social movements. First, these fans were already tightly networked through more traditional fan activities. Second, they have already been engaging in discussions around racial politics: many K-Pop artists are inspired by Western hip hop, attracting many fans of color but also offering uncomfortable examples of cross-racial and cross-cultural appropriation. Third, they had technical capacities to manipulate registration systems since many of their activities involve moving their idols up the charts.
Fandom offers spaces for forging networks, pooling knowledge and rehearsing skills that might later get deployed towards political change. Many young fans are not yet allowed to vote but want to make change through other means. Around the world, young people are using the vernacular of popular culture to express their desire for more equitable and just societies, whether it is young women dressed as Handmaids protesting for reproductive rights or the millions marching in Hong Kong using a song from “Les Miserables” to express their democratic aspirations. Fan activists are pushing back against sports mascots that demean indigenous cultures or long-standing brand icons that replicate Jim Crow stereotypes.
Fan activism is not new. Fans have a long history of developing grassroots communication systems, from the toy printing press of the mid-19th century to Amateur Radio in the 1920s and 1930s and down to today’s webzines, blogs, podcasts, and video sharing sites. Their communication practices constitute what historian Michael Saler calls “a public sphere of the imagination,” a space where people with shared interests and passions center debates in and around fictional worlds. But networked communication has expanded the scale and speed of fan interactions, allowing for rapid and global responses to evolving conditions.
I recently participated in the Granger Leadership Academy, an annual training weekend for young fan activists. Across a series of workshops hosted by groups such as the Harry Potter Alliance, Black Girls Create and Nerds of Color, young fans studied the fundamentals of self-care, broke down gender and racial stereotypes, learned to dissect misinformation, talked about empathy, love, and joy as forces for social change, and generally modeled what an alternative political culture might look like. We will be hearing more from these fan activists at younger and younger ages, because they are growing up in what Parkland activist David Hogg describes as a “no permission necessary culture.” They are finding their voices through fandom and directing them towards social change by any media necessary.
Companies dealing with fan activism should:
- Figure out who they are actually dealing with. Keeping in mind that fandoms do not speak with a single voice on ANYTHING.
- Understand the distinction between fan entitlement (where people assume the right to make demands) and fan empowerment (where fans feel they can offer constructive criticism).
- Recognize the distinction between fans advocating for changes within your company and fans using your IP to seek change elsewhere.
- Distinguish between fans seeking to improve your products and anti-fans who have no real investment in your success.
Once you’ve identified the fans who want to work with you, assume their goodwill and actively listen to what they are saying. You do not have to fully embrace their proposed changes, but you need to understand where they are coming from and recommend alternativenative models for addressing any underlying tension. Fans are important stakeholders in your company. If you enable their participation and explain your decision making, you will build trust with your fans and value for your brand.
Henry Jenkins, PhD is the Provost’s Professor of Communication, Journalism, Cinematic Arts and Education at USC. His blog, Confessions of an Aca-Fan, is at Henry-Jenkins.org, and he co-hosts the discussion podcast How Do You Like It So Far?