The power of negative publicity on the fast fashion industry

The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of negative reporting in the media (hereafter negative publicity) about the fast fashion industry on the attitude of (potential) consumers towards fast fashion apparels. This is done on the basis of three experimental studies. These studies also analyzed if visual and written publicity about the working conditions in the production process and environmentally related information, e.g. environmentally unfriendly externalities of the fast fashion production process, can influence the attitude towards fast fashion apparels, i.e. intention to buy, liking, attitude towards the brand. Furthermore, the studies investigated if differences between consumers (e.g. attitude towards slow fashion, fashion involvement, and ethical and environmental consciousness of consumers) significantly influence the impact of such information on consumer attitudes. The findings of the three studies show that negative (audiovisual and written) publicity about the environmental impact and working conditions of the fast fashion industry significantly negatively influence consumers' attitudes towards the fast fashion industry. The "power" of negative publicity is also significantly stronger than that of positive publicity and is enhanced by the consciousness of consumers towards the social and ecological impact of the fashion industry.