“How might an understanding of consumer behavior theory be used by those seeking to

encourage consumers to make more ethical and sustainable choices when making
purchase/consumption decisions?”

Structure of the presentation

Introduction to Fast Fashion

Fast Fashion can be defined as inexpensive and readily available clothing produced rapidly by
mass-market retailers in response to the latest trends.

It has gained popularity due to its quick adaptation to runway trends at a low cost. However, it
comes with several drawbacks. In production 10% of global carbon emissions are caused by
fast fashion as well as the usage of 79 trillion liters of water, whilst the fashion industry as a
whole is responsible for 20% of industrial water pollution worldwide. Early in the supply chain
there are also several issues, poor working conditions, low wages and even examples of child
labour, especially seen in developing countries where the majority of fast fashion items are
produced. Due to the low cost and often low-quality nature of these clothes 85% of the textiles
produced end up in landfills, whilst even washing them produces a high amount of waste.
Additionally, 65% of these clothes are made from synthetic fibers, a lot of which end up polluting
our oceans as microplastics.

However, you can make an impact. By avoiding fast fashion brands, consumers will have a
bigger say in how trends form and will force companies to be more innovative, environmentally
friendly and contribute positively to society by nullifying exploitation of workers in the industry.

Moreover, there are several ways in which we can make this change - such as by renting
clothes, purchasing second hand or exchanging clothes between friends and family.

Brief explanation about structure of the presentation

To explain how fast fashion affects our daily life, we thought what better way than by taking as a
primary example someone just like us? So that’s exactly what we did. 17 year old Sofia Smith is
the protagonist of our presentation and we will witness her evolution in terms of consumption
patterns. The viewer will take part in Sofia’s journey, which will be broken down into 3 parts to
aid analysis. 3 part to change one story

Define the persona

We will now have a closer look at our persona.

Talk about Sofia’s demographic information and her behavior in terms of fashion consumption.
Sofia’s Journey - Part 1

To understand Sofia Smith, let’s take a step back and focus on her family background and
upbringing.

Her parents were never the types to bother too much about what they were wearing. Like any
regular household, a mix of patterns, styles and brands was common at her house. Not to
mention their very strong beliefs about the environment. The sole conception of some clothing
stores being more sustainable than cheaper alternatives was incredibly foolish to them. At the
end of the day, they were born in a generation which condemned sustainability to a hippie
lifestyle and not much more.

As a matter of fact, environmental neglect was instilled in Sofia’s mind from a young age. And
as she grew up her attitude towards consumption was strengthened by her friends’ opinions.

Attitudes & Influence of family and friends on decision-making behavior

Consumers learn about and form views on a specific topic through interaction with family,
friends, other consumers and media sources that they are exposed to. From these
interactions they then hold a personal position that is usually enduring throughout time.

An attitude is therefore a learned predisposition to behave in a consistently favorable or

unfavorable manner with respect to a given situation (Schiffman, Kanuk and Hansen 2011,
p.432)

Sofia herself has developed an unfavorable attitude about the environment because of the
influence of her family and friends. These groups exert a high influence on the formation of
her personal opinion and thus shape the way that she will behave as an individual.

Although Sofia wasn’t very much into fashion, she was wearing the same trendy clothes as her
friends, which made her happy about being able to fit in with the group. Afternoon shopping
sprees at H&M and Zara allowed her to feel a part of something and ultimately she found them
very rewarding when she was able to find cool pieces to wear and show around school.

Self-Categorization Theory & In and Out Group Bias

Self-Categorization Theory (Turner et al 1987)

● As one of the most relevant theories of social psychology and consumer behavior, it
states that people form cognitive representations of themselves and others in
relation to different social groups.
 ● The process of social categorization shapes a range of attitudes, emotions, and
behaviors.

● In relation to our persona, the focus is on between-group (i.e., intergroup)

processes, where the self is defined as being a group member in contrast to a relevant
outgroup. For instance, Sofia defines herself in terms of membership within her friend
group (in group), since she assigns a positive connotation to being part of it. In this
instance, not being accepted by her friends and remaining excluded would represent
the outgroup that she is trying to avoid.

Slide 5: Sofia’s Journey - Part 2

As mentioned earlier, Sofia was never drawn towards sustainability, because she was heavily
affected by her friends’ ways of consumption and was not aware of the consequences
fast-fashion has on the environment. However, that was until the day she saw the Levi’s: Buy
Better, Wear Longer ad on TV. Levi’s main aim is to reflect the ongoing efforts of the brand to
raise awareness about more sustainable production practices and its willingness to create a
more circular consumption. In an effort to make more ethical and sustainable choices, “Buy
Better, Wear Longer” is also a marketing strategy encouraging consumers to place their trust in
the brand, instead of competitors, highlighting that the quality of their products is high enough to
buy less and thus reduce pollution. To be more impactful and attract new consumers, Levi’s
used celebrities to which their customers can relate to.

Thus, Sofia starts looking up these celebrities as well as researching what fast fashion truly is
and what are the current ways to battle it. She eventually starts to follow different influencers
promoting sustainable consumption including Jack Harries, a film-maker & climate storyteller,
which leads her to become attracted to that community. Hence, she begins to rely on these new
reference groups and her ideal self slowly changes.

Reference Groups: Green Influencers

A reference group is defined as an actual or imaginary group conceived of having significant

relevance upon an individual’s evaluations, aspirations or behavior. Therefore, using
influencers for the purpose of delivering a key message to consumers is very strategic for a
brand, as they can shape attitude and drive (or inhibit) trial.
 In our case, after watching the advert, Sofia’s awareness of sustainable clothing increases
and she starts associating herself with sustainable influencers, which highlights their source
credibility and attractiveness, thus being powerful advocates for a brand. Indeed, their
authenticity reduces the resistance to the marketing of the message conveyed. (De Vries,
Gensler, Leeflang (2012)). However, we would also have to highlight that while they can be
highly beneficial to a brand, they come with risk. Influencers have their own priorities and
frailties, so have to be managed carefully.

For Sofia, influencers like Jack Harries are both an aspirational and positive group and she
wants to associate with them by following their purchasing habits and emulating how they dress.

Symbolic Interactionism (Mead 1934)

To better understand how brands are trying to change consumer’s habits to more ethical and
sustainable ones, it is important to understand how the self is formed. Mead, through his
explanation of “Symbolic Interactionism” stresses that the relationships that individuals have
with others play a large part in the creation of the ‘self’ and the way they engage with the
world.
Moreover, when it comes to thinking about how their consumers consume, it is highly
important for brands to understand these concepts and recognize the relevance they have
and insights they give in terms of how and why they shape their understanding of themselves.
The latter has huge implications for marketing strategies – both for the development of new
products and services and the marketing communication strategy. Hence, by understanding
that the relationships formed have the potential to influence individuals consumption’s
decisions, marketing strategists will have to offer reasons in order to sensitize consumers to
shift it to a more ethical one.
Therefore, Ads and influencers can have the potential to make consumers rethink their habits
which can be deeply rooted because of the influence of the environment they grew up in.
Levi’s specifically used 6 young activists and celebrities from around the globe in order to
make the youth relate to them. Consumers will see them as trustworthy and as they look up to
them, will try to reproduce their habits and thus buy from Levi’s.
However, it is also important to note that changing consumer’s behavior can create internal
conflicts. In our case, Sofia is slowly shifting towards more sustainable buying habits which
creates inconsistency and a feeling of imbalance in relation to her natural ones. Sofia now
needs to figure out who she wants to associate herself with and understand the person she
wants to become.

Heider’s Balance

These feelings are a result of having positive attitudes toward two different “objects” that do
not align, known as the Heider’s balance theory. In our case, Sofia has her well-rooted habits
and feels part of a group with her longtime friends. However, because she felt positively
attracted to the message sent by Levi’s advert and Jack Harries’ content, a conflict arose with
her fast-fashion habits. Thus, the situation, holding some degree of dissonance will force
Sofia to seek to resolve it, which will depend on the relative strength of her attitude towards
one of the two “objects”.

Selected Dimensions of “Self” (Szmigin and Piacentini 2021)

Hence, Sofia would have to choose between her different dimensions of self, introduced by
Szmigin and Piacentini (2021). Indeed, the imbalance created an internal conflict between her
ideal social self, based on her perception of what is expected of her in the way she dresses in
order to not get rejected, and her ideal self where Sofia would want to enhance her positive
qualities in order to eliminate the negative ones from her actual self on the long term. Thus
she would have to figure out whether the person she strives to become is more important or
not than her actual ideal social self.

Sofia’s Journey - Part 3:

A few months later, Sofia moves to London to attend university and broadens her views by
interacting with individuals from a mix of cultures. Quickly her strongest relationships are made
with people keen on ethical consumption, which is about only buying goods that are ethically
sourced. Sofia saw them going around on campus with their unique outfits, giving out flyers
about their environmental society “Green Is the New Black” and going thrift shopping all
together. She understands that it is cool to have your own style and homologation does not
make you a part of something. Sofia felt empowered by that group doing things she has never
experienced before. She definitely wants to belong to it.

Consumption Subcultures

Consumption subculture is a division of subculture, defined as “…a distinctive subgroup of

society that self-selects on the basis of a shared commitment to a particular product class,
brand or consumption activity.” Subcultures are very important within society to create
cohesion and bring like-minded individuals together, and help them develop a sense of
identity.

In our case, the subgroup Sofia looks up to is highly committed to ethical and sustainable
choices of consumption. They identify themselves by their unique ethical styles instead of
following the latest trends, a result of the fast-fashion consumerism.

Some subcultures, through their unique ideologies of consumption, have been known to
transcend national boundaries and class differences. As culture determines the consumer's
beliefs, directly linked to attitudes and behaviors, it can dictate and enhance ethical
purchasing among the members. Therefore, subcultures are useful tools for marketers when
seeking to target the appropriate subgroup, by meeting members’ specific and shared needs
and attitudes. However, marketers must clearly recognise the appropriate frame of reference
for individual subcultures in order to avoid miscommunication or even worse, alienating
whole groups.

The ease with which they combine fashion and sustainability made Sofia want to get more
involved. Hence, she signs up to her new friends’ on-campus society’s conference, which goal is
to raise awareness about the disastrous consequences of fast fashion on our planet.

Fear and Shock Campaigns

 By using concrete examples and data, the society aims to shock the audience. Highlighting
the negative consequences of fast-fashion consumers' habits is an attempt to motivate them
into action and thus increase involvement. In our case, Sofia’s level of perceived risk
increases, especially the psychological type as she now feels guilty about her rooted habits in
fast fashion.

She now fully realized the extent to which fast fashion is harmful to society and is convinced that
she would not reconsider buying unethically again. Her situational involvement in ethical
consumption slowly becomes enduring involvement, which is the main goal of any marketers.

Involvement

Indeed, involvement is a critical framework for all marketers to understand as it is a major

influence upon consumers’ choice processes and decision-making behaviors. They recognize
that consumers don’t always spend their life thinking about particular brands or habits and it is
therefore a challenge to keep consumer’s interest and thus entail enduring involvement, in
order to create long-lasting relationships and loyalty.

So How did Sofia’s consumption habits change ?

Sofia’s growing involvement in sustainability has completely changed her decision-making

process.

New Decision-Making Process

When she wants to buy new clothes, she will firstly acknowledges her needs by asking
herself: “Do I really need this item? Do I already have something similar to this item?”.
Secondly, she will go through both internal and external information search: “Is the item
produced in a sustainable way using recycled resources?” Thirdly, she will evaluate
alternatives, to then make her final product choice. After these steps, she would make an
ethical choice for this product.
She has now found her way to be a fashionable and ethical consumer, while reflecting her own
style. She feels good about herself, is proud of her actual self and the image she conveys and is
now trying to make a proper impact on the world.

Conclusion

Through the course of this presentation, we have seen that engaging consumers in
pro-environmental behaviour is not easy. However, an understanding of consumer behaviour
theories and concepts can certainly aid those seeking to change consumers’ consumption
patterns to more sustainable and ethical ones.

Indeed, as our team demonstrated along with this presentation, an understanding of how
individuals shape their own « self », evolving through the influence of their relationships, would
help marketers to better analyze and impact their consumers. In fact, the environment and the
defined in-groups individuals relate to, instill a feeling of balance which would create dissonance
if hustled. In our case, Levi’s ad, combined with her discovery of these « green influencers »
destabilized Sofia, as she identified herself to new groups. The willingness to resolve this
imbalance will lead to a new identification and definition of each individual’s « self », giving
space for marketers to influence their consumption. To enhance this phenomenon, marketers
can also use various frameworks, such as fear and shock campaigns, to trigger reactions and
thus increase long-lasting involvement. All of these applications of theories and concepts will
ultimately lead to new decision-making processes, as marketers wish.

Although on an ideal note many might relate to Sofia's situation on a personal level, each and
every individual undergoes different experiences. Thus, it is important to highlight that even if
these theories were effective in Sofia's case, they might not be for other consumers. Indeed,
these concepts, targeting and attaining a change in the attitude of consumers, can be very
challenging as these tend to be deeply rooted within individuals.

Lastly, what stays true is the fact that we all need to show commitment towards changing our
consumption patterns and be aware of the benefits sustainable consumption can have. While a
complete change to our behaviour might be hard to achieve, especially at the initial stages, we
can still educate ourselves and contribute towards offsetting the detrimental impact of fast
fashion on our planet.
(which brands and influencers are actively trying to change through X)

-> say that with her brand she is now applying these same theories that shift her mindset on
other people to shift them ? (might be a great way to summarize the theories we used)
FRA’S NOTES FROM SEMINAR

SEMINAR 8 (WEEK 9)

Questions from the article

Park, H.J. and Lin, L.M., 2020. Exploring attitude-behavior gap in sustainable consumption:
Comparison of recycled and upcycled fashion products. Journal of Business Research, 117,
pp.623-628.

1) According to the paper, what factors are most likely to determine whether a consumer will
engage in sustainable consumption behaviors?

● Level of development /resources in the country

● Cultural and subjective norms
● “Embeddedness” in the process
● Attitude
● Balance between fashion and ethical choices
● Price
● Experience
● Lack of information
● Quality
● Promotions
● Level of involvement

2) Which factors identified in the paper relate to 'situational involvement' and which ones
might relate to 'enduring involvement'? Could any relate to both? How?
 There are 2 key types of involvement:

1. Enduring Involvement (Zaichkowsky 1985): long-standing involvement

2. Situational Involvement (Dholakia 1997): a short term state of arousal directed towards
attaching relevance to a person/object/situation.

Enduring Involvement can entail Situational Involvement (Kapferer and Laurent 1985)

Enduring involvement:

● Level of development /resources in the country

● Cultural and subjective norms
● Attitude
● Balance between fashion and ethical choices
● Experience
● Quality

Situational Involvement:

● Price
● Lack of information
● Promotions

3) Reflect upon Jacoby and Kaplan’s (1972) six types of risk, which ones have been identified
in the paper as having an influence on consumers' willingness to make sustainable
consumption choices? Which one do you believe is most influential?

The 6 types of perceived risk:

● Monetary: relative price consideration for consumer

● Functional: will it do the job?
● Physical: potential for harm → self or others
● Social: reaction of “significant others (e.g. reference groups)
● Psychological: issues around self concept (e.g. how does this make the consumer feel
about themselves?)
● Time: time taken vs outcome attained (e.g. is it worth it?)

1. Which of these types of risk are most influential in fashion choices?

● Monetary
● Time
 ● Social

Play with the psychology of the consumer to convince them to buy sustainable clothing.

Reference groups (e.g. Influencers) → credibility in the minds of consumers

2. How might they be used to encourage sustainable fashion choices?

Influencers and opinion leaders

Time :

Intro (overview of fast fashion) - 1min max

Intro (Persona) - 1min max
Part 1 - 3min30 max
Part 2 - 3min30 max
Part 3 - 3min30 max
Conclusion - 1min30

Total - 14min
Intro notes:
​Fast fashion

impacts from the fashion industry include over 92 million tonnes of waste produced per year and
79 trillion liters of water consumed -
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-020-0039-9?proof%3Dt

Fast fashion has gained popularity due to the low price products which adapt to changes in
fashion, have a low cycle life and rely on impulse purchases

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09593960903498300

https://www.sustainably-chic.com/blog/fast-fashion-brands-to-avoid
least sustainable fast fashion brands e.g shein.

Avoiding fast fashion brands is important as it encourages innovation by fashion companies,

and consumers have a say in the way products are made and how trends form as well as
having a say in the way clothing items are produced
https://www.ethical.org.au/3.4.2/get-informed/why-shop-ethically/#:~:text=It%20encourages%20i
nnovative%20products%20and,makes%20them%20conducts%20its%20business.

Major problems of fast fashion include causing 10% of the global carbon emissions and 85% of
textiles being produced ending up in dumps. Whilst even washing products produces the
equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles per year.
https://earth.org/fast-fashions-detrimental-effect-on-the-environment/
there are also major issues in stages of the supply chain in the fast fashion industries as there
are examples of child labour, especially in developing countries

● In the start she could not know much about sustainability

● She comes across an advert of a sustainable brand becomes interested
● Finds out the clothes she wears are not sustainable - finds more sustainable brands and
therefore her ideal self changes

She could see an ad from a brand being sustainable / promoting sustainability. And we could
say that it made her rethink her choices/ that she is just trying to fit in -> so quote the reference
group/ ideal social self concepts. Then she starts following sustainable influencers

And then explain which theory the brand used

Slide 1 - story with what happened and the theory used

Slide 2 - explain and define the theory and explain how it applied specifically