How brands and advertisers are responding to consumer climate anxiety

It’s no secret that our many converging environmental crises are prompting consumers to reevaluate their shopping habits, and that this has presented new challenges for brands looking to appeal to concerned shoppers. However, as the climate emergency becomes more and more tangible in consumer markets, the tension between its terrifying reality and the vague promises sold to us by brands grows stronger and stronger.

This raises a vital question for brands, consumers and marketers: how can we reconcile our shopping habits with the terrifying knowledge of what they’re doing to the planet?

I wrote my debut book, The World Is on Fire But We’re Still Buying Shoes, on this very issue. Drawing on years of experience at the heart of consumerism (previously, I was digital fashion editor at streetwear publication Highsnobiety), I argue that the only realistic answer to fashion's enormous environmental footprint is to simply buy less stuff, and that doing so is also an opportunity to buy better pieces and develop a more conscious relationship with clothing.

When it comes to sustainability, there’s no shortage of clothes with green credentials out there, organic cotton and recycled polyester are the most common examples, although there’s plenty of pieces made with natural dyes; lower impact washes and alternate leathers as well. The problem is, many of these solutions come with trade-offs, for example, what if polyester was recycled in a facility powered by coal? Single solutions are just one part of a much bigger picture; just because a cotton fibre is organic, it says nothing of how that cotton was then woven, spun, dyed or cut and sewn into a finished product.

The sad truth to fashion these days is that despite all the lower-impact options out there, the industry’s business model of never-ending products is inherently unsustainable – and no amount of recycling can change that. But that hasn’t stopped fashion from pretending that shopping can save the world; the news cycle is filled with quote-unquote sustainable pledges, collections and innovations, even though decades of corporate sustainability initiatives haven’t been able to even slow down the industry’s spiralling greenhouse gas emissions.

Simply buying less is the easiest way for consumers to reduce their impact on the planet. It sidesteps all of those headaches and contradictions, and allows shoppers to follow their own tastes and preferences rather than force themselves into the relatively narrow range of sustainable options out there. And while buying less might on the surface seem like a sacrifice, I’d argue that this is in fact an opportunity to cultivate a more personal way of dressing; thinking deeply about how you want to present yourself to the world and slowly collecting a wardrobe of investment pieces rather than losing yourself in the endless churn of disposable trends.

The climate emergency raises deeply difficult questions for brands of all sorts, not just in fashion. Marketers’ typical response to consumers' shifting priorities is to promote "sustainable" products and campaigns as if they’ll magically save the planet. However, as recent greenwashing court cases have shown us, that's a risky game to play; any sustainability-angled campaign risks opening up a Pandora's box of misleading claims and empty promises. Consumers are growing sceptical of the years and years of flimsy sustainability claims thrown at them by brands (and the agencies working for them). There is a very real risk of people just switching off altogether and ignoring any green claim they see – you only need to compare the reality of wildfires, floods and droughts with the flimsy carbon neutral claims sold by brands to get the feeling something doesn't add up.

In this moment of shifting priorities, agencies need to understand that their core skill set, telling compelling yet ultimately simple stories, isn’t always what’s needed when it comes to talking about sustainability, which is immeasurably complex. And while great campaigns are about communicating a simple idea in an engaging way, the truth is there are no easy answers in sustainability; both in fashion, and in every other consumer industry. Contemporary supply chains are so tangled, opaque and complex, and harm the planet in so many different and interwoven ways, that it’s impossible to make a product that is truly sustainable, despite all the noise from brands who want to make it seem that way.

Agencies also need to be aware that their clients may not always have the most honest intentions – brands can mislead the agencies they hire as well as consumers. Environmental responsibility doesn’t end at using electric cars and vegan catering on set. Clean Creatives’ call for marketers to cease working with fossil fuel companies is a vital reminder that agencies’ environmental responsibility is ultimately about who they work with, not just how.

At the end of the day, buying less isn’t just about nurturing a better relationship with consumerism, it’s also a political act. Brands have claimed for years that they’re committed to saving the planet, yet decades of corporate sustainability initiatives haven’t been able to reduce society’s environmental footprint, which is set to increase even further in years to come.

Brands and agencies urgently need to understand that to date, no major consumer market has truly felt the destructive power of the climate emergency. But when does that finally happen? When consumers understand that years of corporate sustainability commitments weren’t able to even slightly reduce consumerism’s environmental footprint, what will they think of the brands, and agencies, who for years told them that the answer was just to buy supposedly sustainable products? Marketing in the 21st century is about appealing to consumers' identities, pretending that brands share our values and care about the things we care about. But that’s a dangerous game to play because nobody likes a liar, especially not one that lies about the greatest crisis the human race has ever faced.