Change My Mind

JOUR 542 | Project #1

CHANGE MY MIND

Gracie Newton

Introduction In a world that prioritizes convenience and speed, sustainability is often an afterthought.

When sustainability does take the forefront, making lifestyle changes can be a challenging and intimidating feat. Over the course of several years, I have engaged in multiple conversations with my family and friends centered around implementing environmentally friendly practices into their lives in an effort to push them towards sustainable living. Because being eco-friendly is a multifaceted concept that also has extensive related topics, it is better to take small steps towards being sustainable rather than overhauling your lifestyle all at once. I am always learning new ways to live green.

Fast fashion, it’s impact on our environment, it’s exploitation of garment workers, and the necessity for drastic change was brought to my attention via social media last year. I gained an understanding of how to combat fast fashion on a level that works well for me, while encouraging my mother and sister, Katie, to do the same. My interaction with Mom and Katie was both via text and in person over a period of several months; they learned alongside me.

I persuaded them to start purchasing their clothing second hand via an app called Poshmark, a social marketplace where users sell and purchase clothing, home goods, pet items, and more. My goal was to encourage my mom and sister to utilize Poshmark and in an effort to move away from fast fashion and hold big brands accountable.

fast fashion noun

inexpensive clothing produced rapidly by mass-market retailers in response to the latest trends.

Narrative Persuasion Like many others, narrative is something that comes naturally to me. It is easy to recount stories in everyday conversation. Narrative elements can manifest in a variety of different ways in a persuasive context. Dillard and Shen (2013) define narrative persuasion as “any influence on beliefs, attitudes, or actions brought about by a narrative message through processes associated with narrative comprehension or engagement.”

In narrative persuasion, it is important that the narrative and persuasive content are combined in some way — though it can be subtle. Dillard and Shen (2013) state that the purest form of narrative persuasion could be looked at as being a story that is created with the intention of persuading. A narrative designed with the intention of persuading may include character development in which an individual who initially exhibits negative behavior changes and is rewarded for positive behavior. While less recognizable as persuasion, individual testimonials can also be used to share experiences and influence audiences.

Narrative persuasion includes imagery, appeals to emotions like empathy, and can vary by level of persuasive integration. Because of my close relationship to my mom and Katie, the casual nature of our conversations, my personal experience using Poshmark, and my knowledge of their empathetic personality types, narrative persuasion is an effective theoretical framework.

Framework Dillard and Shen (2013) recount that stories show lived experiences that are difficult to argue against. In an effort to open Mom and Katie’s eyes to the lifestyle big brands are subjecting their garment workers to, I shared the personal story of Bangladesh garment worker, Fatima, from Oxfam Australia’s The Women Who Make Your Clothes Campaign (2017).

Fatima is one of the millions of women who make our clothes in garment factories. She is 20 years old, and left school following her father’s death to find work in order to provide for her sick mother. Head scarves are not common among Bangladesh garment workers, but it is a risk for Fatima to speak out, so covers herself to protect her identity.

Fatima lives in small cramped quarters with 10 others, including her landlord. She sleeps on the floor in a room she shares with two other garment workers.

Oxfam Australia (2017)

Running water is only available for one hour, so Fatima fills a cooking pot and stores water in a plastic drum in her room.

Fatima frequently worries about her ill mother, who needs medication and an operation.

After paying rent and keeping little money for food for herself, Fatima sends the rest of her wages to her mother. Often, pay is late and the line chief bullies Fatima and other women into signing payslips in order to be able to keep part of their wages.

If her pay is particularly low one month, Fatima chooses to go without food so she can take care of her mother.

Like most garnment workers, Fatima works 12 hours a day for 6 days a week and is paid as little as 39 cents an hour which is not a livable wage. Fatima says “If I was paid a better wage, I would move into a flat and bring my mother with me because now, whenever I am able to eat, I’m always thinking, ‘I am eating but how is my mother right now?

I can’t see her. Is she eating as well? Is she getting food?”

Oxfam Australia (2017)

Sharing Fatima’s story was an important step in encouraging my mom and my sister to utilize Poshmark.

By sharing a personal story of a garment worker, I made an effort to open Mom and Katie’s eyes to the horrors of fast fashion. Fatima’s story appeals to emotion, and helped me avoid a resistance reaction from my audience. “Resistance is a reaction against change, and more specifically, both the motivation to withstand pressures to change, as well as the actual outcome of not having been changed by a pressure” Dillard and Shen (2013). Because Fatima’s story never expilicitly said “you should stop shopping from international brands that benefit from fast fashion,” there was little room for resistance. Fatima’s story is full of implicit statements. Dillard and Shen (2013) state that implicit messages need to be inferred before counterarguing can occur.

Fatima’s story also relies heavily on imagery, which Dillard and Shen (2013) state is at the center of narrative persuasion. Narrative texts are considered to be influential if they evoke measurable images.

Fatima’s story created a strong emotional reaction through the imagery the narrative provided. My mom likely

saw myself and Katie in Fatima, as we are also in our 20’s. Katie may have pictured herself in the same situation.

Regardless, it was not enough to only share Fatima’s story. Fatima only helped me set the ground work for why fast fashion is bad. While sharing her story may have influenced Mom and Katie’s mindest, it did not persuade them to begin purchasing their clothes off of Poshmark.

In order to persuade my mom and my sister to shop on Poshmark, I used my own testimonial. Dillard and Shen (2013) explain that testimonials in which an individual shares an anecdote or experience often take a narrative form. Relying on my own testimonial, I was able to vouche for Poshmark and explain how beneficial it was for me in addition to the environment.

My Testimonial The following testimonial was recounted about Poshmark to my mom and Katie, following a compliment on an outfit I was wearing. I included explicit statements to be direct in my message. I also shared explicit statements from my own discoveries of the impact fast fashion has on the environment. My testimonials purpose was to persuade Mom and Katie to purchase secondhand clothing from Poshmark more than they purchase new clothing from big name stores.

“

Poshmark has been a game changer for me! After learning about the detrimental impact fast fashion has on our environment, I wanted to make a change and you should too. The fashion industry is the 2nd largest consumer of water. Did you know that it takes around 700 gallons of water to produce a single cotton shirt?

It takes over two times that amount of water to produce one pair of jeans, Maiti (2020). It is wasteful to continue buying new clothing when there are affordable, sustainable options. Many fast fashion brands also use synthetic materials that create harmful micro plastics, which are tiny pieces of non-biodegradable plastics that end up in our oceans. When you dispose of clothing that you no longer wear, it often ends up in landfills where the micro plastics are transported into our waterways. Purchasing clothing via Poshmark creates less waste and has taken away the guilt of buying clothing for me. I still receive all of the benefits of purchasing a new outfit, but often at a cheaper price than if I were to buy it new — all without feeding into fast fashion.

Poshmark even allows you to trade or sell your own clothes. The clothing I have purchased so far have become well loved pieces in my closet that I frequently receive compliments on. I am thankful to have Poshmark as an option for buying second hand and hope that you utilize it too.

Summary As a result of my narrative persuasion, Mom and Katie both shop via Poshmark now. However, they still purchase from big brand name clothing stores as well. It is hard to say where they shop more. I believe employing narrative persuasion is effective in contexts that require, or have the opportunity for, imagery and entertainment. I do not believe narrative persuasion would be as effective in the context of purchasing a new car.

Looking back on the encounter, it would have been beneficial to try to incorporate more statistical information into a narrative approach. While narrative persuasion is entertaining, it may have helped my argument to utilize more statistics, particularly in the story about Fatima. Additionally, it would have been beneficial to find a documentary or video detailing the life of a garment worker to fall into the implicit persuasive intent category.

Though Dillard and Shen (2013) detail counterarguing, I did not have experience counterarguing during my conversation with Mom and Katie. Reflecting, it may have been because I relayed using Poshmark as something that would benefit them. Overall, the persuasive encounter was 50% successful; my mom and sister started shopping on Poshmark, but did not give up fast fashion altogether.

Citations Dillard, J. P., & Shen, L. (2013). The SAGE Handbook of Persuasion (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications.

Maiti, R. (2020, January 29). Fast Fashion: Its Detrimental Effect on the Environment.

Earth.Org - Past | Present | Future. https://earth.org/fast-fashions-detrimental-effect-on-the-environment/ OxfamAUS., (2017). The Women Who Make Your Clothes: Fatima’s Story https://whatshemakes.oxfam.org.au/stories/fatima/ all illustrations are my own | @gracieillustrates