Don't believe everything - Black Friday fast fashion deals put more pressure on consumers

You might want to save money, or you might have promised yourself you would buy clothes you only really need. You'reprobably not the only one who thinks this way and may even feel pressured by sales arguments. 

Doctoral student Tiia Alkkiomäki and Assistant Professors of Marketing Henna Syrjälä and Hanna Leipämaa-Leskinen have studied how fast fashion chains try to legitimize their activities through social media marketing communications. The chains' marketing messages invoke various responsibility claims to bolster a nagging conscience and lure consumers into shopping.

– We can even talk about deliberately misleading consumers, as many of the responsibility claims in companies' marketing messages that emerged in the data are partly or completely questionable, says Leipämaa-Leskinen.

The legitimacy of existence 

The study examined discursive strategies of legitimation. These are strategies by which an organization seeks to gain acceptance in society and maintain its legitimacy through various communicative means.

Discursive legitimization uses, for example, persuasive arguments, narratives or ethical arguments to persuade the recipient to accept the organization's objectives, activities and existence in general.

The fast fashion chains studied in this study legitimize their activities, for example, with messages such as environmental friendliness and social responsibility - even though at the same time the research findings on the industry speak for the exact opposite reality.

– Previous research shows that fast fashion challenges all the principles of sustainable fashion, which are thought to include environmental, social and ethical issues. Therefore, exploring the topic through legitimization strategies is new and interesting, argues Syrjälä.

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Think for a moment about what you read

The study identified four different discursive legitimization strategies, each of which in its own way supports a favourable message and image of the organization as a fair, socially responsible and just actor.

– Organizations legitimize their actions by explaining their various accountability measures, which each of us have encountered at some point. These include, for example, the organization's own sustainability templates or self-created certificates, the criteria for which remain unclear. This is why consumers need to be alert when receiving marketing messages, Alkkiomäki explains. 

Fast fashion companies not only compete on the basis of low prices, but also use authority to present role models whose consumption habits and recommendations are worth following. 

This is authorization strategy, based on a person's influence, position or role. In the fashion sector, this strategy may be reflected in an outfit worn by a fashion icon or in a collection bearing the name of a famous designer. 

– The idea is that if a person is dressed in a certain way or a collection is named after a famous designer, then it is acceptable and right to buy. So, this is a way of enticing the consumer to do the same, says Syrjälä.

Sometimes messages encourage you to make sensible decisions. Rationalization is the most common and recognisable of the legitimization strategies.

It is most often associated with tangible economic benefits, such as discounts and special offers. Rationality can also be invoked by describing the quality of the product, its specific characteristics or its benefits. The consumer may even feel that it would be foolish not to buy in this case.

– It is rational to buy new clothes, now that they happen to be on sale at a reasonable price. And of course it is always worth renewing your wardrobe when you move from one season to the next - or is it really necessary, Alkkiomäki says.

Fast fashion companies use familiar and appealing sustainability claims by turning their original meaning around. 

– For example, an organization may ask people to clean out their wardrobes and put together a simple set that serves their needs. The idea of reducing consumption is there in the background, but in reality it's an encouragement to first clean out what you don't use and then head out shopping for those products that "look like you”, says Leipämaa-Leskinen. 

– In fact, according to previous studies, consumers mostly clean out their wardrobes, either consciously or unconsciously, to make room to buy new clothes and not to leave empty shelf space, Alkkiomäki adds. 

The hero's cape

Through the legitimization strategy of moralization strategy, an organization legitimize actions by referring to moral values and norms, positioning itself as a hero. The message is that the organization's actions are ethically right or represent a socially accepted moral value.

In the fashion industry context, the moralization strategy is used, for example, when organizations say they are making charitable donations, seeking to reduce harmful environmental impacts or enabling more people to enjoy fashion through low prices.

– The reality of the fast fashion industry is grim. Clothes and accessories are being produced at an accelerating rate, under questionable working conditions, with little regard for the environment and with human rights being trampled on, says Syrjälä.

The mythopoesis strategy, on the other hand, uses elements of storytelling to legitimize its actions, allowing the organization and its customers to once again wear the cape of a hero. In their messages, organizations construct narratives that present their activities in a positive light.

– In our research data, the mythopoesis strategies were based on either moral or cautionary tales. Moral narratives reward actors for following social practices. Warning narratives, on the other hand, describe what happens if social norms are not followed, Leipämaa-Leskinen says.

Who is responsible?

Research shows that consumers are expected to take action to make the fashion system more sustainable.

– However, the burden is not on them alone: designers, retailers, fashion unions and policy makers are also needed to make a difference, Alkkiomäki argues.

Fast fashion chains are tackling current phenomena such as the circular economy and promoting sustainable development. For example, you can take used clothes to a shop for recycling and get a discount voucher for your next shopping trip. And again, you're on the verge of new purchases.

– Although such services are often marginal in relation to the company's actual business, they signal a commitment to sustainability and can thus soften consumers' perception of the harmful effects of fast fashion, says Syrjälä.

Ideally, consumers should only be left with the question of whether they need the new product.

– If the need is there and the consumer decides to buy a new garment, they should be confident that the product meets the criteria of sustainable production, manufacturing, distribution, marketing and sales. For this we need structural guidance and a change in marketing logic, says Leipämaa-Leskinen.