Political Resistance in the Marketplace: Consumer Activism in the Milk Tea Alliance

Abstract

Hong Kong, Thailand, and Myanmar experienced waves of pro-democracy movements from 2019–2021. Similar political trajectories and democratic aspirations bound the three territories together under what some called the Milk Tea Alliance. Alongside street protests, pro-democracy citizens in the three territories engaged in politics-driven consumption. The economic strategy turned the market into a resistance site and sustained defiance. In Hong Kong and Thailand, boycotts and buycotts co-existed in the movements with the consumer activism of the former more widespread than for the latter. In Myanmar, anti-military regime citizens primarily adopted the boycott tactic. With a similar objective of politics-driven consumerism, what explains the variations in the adoption of boycotts and buycotts in Hong Kong, Thailand, and Myanmar? Based on in-depth interviews and secondary information from the three territories, this comparative study finds that politics-driven consumerism interacts with political environments. In a closed political system, for instance Myanmar, political consumers can only engage in covert resistance. In hybrid regimes, such as Hong Kong and Thailand, political consumers can leverage both boycotts and buycotts as overt resistance, with the level of political consumer engagement varying according to the availability of alternative political avenues.