Dirtbags with Smartphones: The Paradox of Environmentally Conscious Consumerism on Social Media

This study explores the complexities in the outdoorsy community’s relationship with outdoor brands on social media. The affordances perspective and cognitive dissonance theory were used to frame the study. Findings indicate that brand and influencer engagement are pervasive, with potential to impact participants’ identity performance and maintenance. Analysis revealed three categories of participants based on their engagement level and tension experienced: (1) outdoorsy engagers, who seemed to effortlessly balance their outdoorsy identities while embracing brands on social media; (2) mindful minimalists, including “true dirtbags,” who had low engagement and low tension; and (3) conflicted connectors, who demonstrated high engagement and experienced high dissonance. Nearly half of participants were outdoorsy engagers, highlighting the normalization of brand interactions on social media within the community. These findings extend previous research by illustrating how social media affordances and eco-conscious consumerism interact with identity construction in the outdoorsy community.