This chapter integrates sociological understandings with studies from marketing and consumer research in order to engage with the question of how individuals navigate questions of (non-)identity and (non-)belonging through their (non-)engagement with the marketplace.

In the first part of the chapter, I explore these themes in relation to distastes and the rejection of products and brands, and their associations with (negative) possible selves and associated out-groups, within a consumption context inherent with symbolic meaning. In the second part of the chapter, I look into circumstances where the product category itself is symbolic and consumers risk being negatively marked by their (non-)consumption practices. Individuals may demonstrate a reluctance to be identified by their rejection (consumption) decisions, particularly where their actions (or in many case inactions) are presumed by others to carry more (or different) meanings than intended. This leads me to the question of whether it is possible to refuse the associated identity connotations of not consuming in a symbolic context.

Throughout the chapter, I will provide illustrative examples from some empirical studies carried out by myself and colleagues, in particular, Margaret Hogg (Banister and Hogg, 2001; 2004; Hogg and Banister, 2001) and Maria Piacentini (Piacentini and Banister, 2006; 2009; Banister and Piacentini, 2008; Banister et al, 2019a; 2019b). My work with Margaret Hogg developed from my doctoral work, which focused on identity and fashion consumption, with a particular focus on negative aspects of identity and how these informed individuals’ clothing choices (and decisions not to consume).