Environmental Activism For Sale: A Visual Analysis of the Relationship Between Product Advertising and the Environmental Movement in 2022
Name: Isabel Espinosa
Majors: Communication Studies, Global Media & Digital Studies
Advisor: Simon Rousset; Denise Bostdorff (second reader)
As the corporate use of social movement rhetoric in advertising increases, the role of corporate participation in activism gains significance. The present study aims to dissect how clothing companies commodify the ideals of the environmental movement within visual advertising messages. Using methodologies of visual rhetoric and semiotics, it is possible to perceive how themes of the environmental movement are utilized as a corporate advertising strategy to increase profits while shifting the blame for environmental decline onto the consumer. This study centers on five product advertisements posted on social media accounts between August and October of 2022 from major clothing companies: Patagonia, Carhartt, Nike, The North Face, and Levi’s. My analyses reveals the creation and distortion of corporate trust and suggested convergence of corporate and individual activist ideals as advertising strategies to sell products to activist consumers.
Posted in Comments Enabled, Independent Study, Symposium 2023 on April 13, 2023.
2 responses to “Environmental Activism For Sale: A Visual Analysis of the Relationship Between Product Advertising and the Environmental Movement in 2022”
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Congratulations, Isabel. What a thought-provoking analysis. I suspect that I will be looking at online advertising a bit more carefully in the future.
Congratulations on completing your IS, Isabel! Your observations and insight into the way advertisers manipulate the consumer are so interesting. I’m curious to learn more!