One for All and All for the Brand

This study aims at gaining an empirical understanding of the temporary discursive construction of solidarity for a brand in crisis. The authors draw on two highly frequented national newspaper platforms to analyse online discourses revolving around the threatening bankruptcy of a national chocolate producer. The findings reveal that - in the contest for the object of solidarisation - purification discourses on who to solidarize with and who to solidarize against oppose subversive discourses that challenge utopian representations of solidarity. Discursive threads on labelling the culprits involve both discourses on social order critique and forward-looking pragmatic agenda-setting discourses. In conclusion, this study suggests that the brand in crisis facilitates processes of utopic thinking in a liminal discursive space.