I
Investigation of Hong Kong Fashion Marketing in Ethical Ways
Nottingham Trent University School of Art & Design Institute of Vocational Education – Hong Kong
ba
ifb
2018 / 2019
Module: FASHION CONCEPT AND INNOVATION PROJECT Module reference: FASH30006
IVE
Module Leader: CHAN, Marco
Module Name Declaration This submission is the result of my own work.
All help and
advice other than that received from tutors has been acknowledged
and
primary
and
secondary
sources
action should be taken in line with the University’s regulation on assessment contained in its handbook.
of
information have been properly attributed.
I confirm that this work has gained ethical approval and that I have faithfully observed the terms of the approval in the
Should this statement prove to be untrue, I recognise the
conduct of this project.
right and duty of the Board of Examiners to recommend what
Signed ______________________________ (Full Name) WONG Sau Laam
Date 28/01/2019 (Word Count:___1,384____)
The father of modern marketing, Philip Kotler has mentioned that “ Marketing is an administrative and social process through which individuals and groups obtain what they need and desire by the generation, offering and exchange of valuable products with their equals� (Postcron, n.d). One the other hand, American Marketing Association said that “ Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. (AMA, 2013)
In Hong Kong, it is no doubt that Marketing is one of the most important channel for brands to promote the message to their consumers and to the public. Traditional marketing, for example the television broadcast, radio and paper etc. become less. In nowadays, it is not unusual to see most of the fashion brands are using online platform such as official website and social media like Facebook and Instagram. Also, brands are using high technology such as Augmented Reality(AR) and Virtual Reality(VR) in order to catch up with the current trend in the society.
In recent years, Hong Kong society pays attention to environmental protection and human welfare which result in more and more fashion brands promote sustainability in a more ethical way. Investigating a better quality of ethical marketing would be a new challenge for Hong Kong fashion brands to promote their brand image positively.
How a company are doing ethical business, To enterprise, it is all about doing the right things. Being honest and fair to their customers and make sure that the business is running morally complying with Law. (CBS News, 2007) The 6 significant
ethic
values
that
an
enterprise ought to have are: Honesty, Responsibility,
Fairness,
Respect,
Transparency and Citizenship. (AMA, 2017)
“What is Ethical Marketing?”
how a consumers evaluate brand. In recent years,
more
and
more
consumers’
purchasing decision are not only made by the products and services it owns, but also considering the company background, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and public relationship (PR). Consumers are now pay more attention to the motivation of the company behind to see whether the company are really doing the honest “Green Issue”.
Fig.1
“Respect to nature, respect to people and respect to animal”(Stella McCartney, 2017) stated by
“What is Fashion
Stella McCartney, a British designer who
Ethic?”
workers and customers are being treated by
proudly and boldly designs sustainable luxury fashion. Respect to nature, trying not to destroy the environment and the natural material resources. Respect to people, people who engage in the whole supply chain including the farmers,
respect and dignity. Respect to animal, no leather, fur, skin and feather so as to minimize the hurts to animal.
This project aims to investigate the Hong Kong Fashion Marketing in Ethical Ways. Also, to identify why ethical consideration is crucial to a company.
In order to build up a sustainable fashion industry, a completed ethical marketing system is being developed so as to reach the project goals. Understanding that marketing is an important channel for company to promote their message to consumers, consumers’ opinions and experiences are considered for further investigation.
Last but not least, to find out whether there are any problems and limitation during the process of the project so that a more consummate marketing system can be developed.
Fig.2
I may have loved Dolce & Gabbana’s designs once, but I love my culture more” (Lu, 2018)
Fig.3 In November 2018, Dolce & Gabbana released a series of promotional video.(Fig.2) The video showed a Chinese model, Zuo ye eating western food by using a pair of chopsticks.(Fig.3) After the campaign was announced, a part of conversation from one of the designer Stefano Gabbana (Fig.5) was discovered. (Fig.4) The conversation indicated that Gabbana was saying “The country of Sxxx is China”. This resulted in many China citizen feeling angry to Dolce & Gabbana. Many Chinese celebrities boycotted the brands and the fashion show in Shanghai was cancelled at the end.
Two of the designers said sorry finally. However, none of the China citizen
accept their apology because of the designer’s arrogant attitude.
Fig.5
“Personally I would never show any disrespect to my motherland. I love my country and feel proud to be able to represent China on the catwalk,� (Zuo Ye, 2018)
Fei Lu, a 25-year-old student who graduated from Parsons School of Design in New York fascinated with fashion and lived in China since his birth before studying in Parsons School of Design in New York.
He has mentioned that he was speechless when he saw one of his favorite designer Stefano Gabbana humiliating his homeland. As a China citizen, Lu cannot accept the Gabbana as the international famous designer regularly insulting people via the media.
Fig.4
This disaster also discovers that the Chinese employees who work in foreign brands have not been respected or accepted during the decision making since the employees cannot avoid the farce done by Dolce & Gabbana.
Zuo ye, the Asian model who engage in the shooting of this promotional video said that her career is ruined by Dolce & Gabbana since she was blamed by the China citizens. China social media user attacked and commented that Zuo making money by insulting her own country and vilifying the image of the Chinese. Under the pressure and the blame, Zuo has to clarify and apologize to her country citizens.
The world and the trend are keeping changing year by year. However, one of the thing has not been changed. Respecting people, including the consumers and the employees.
Apparently, Dolce & Gabbana has made a bad demonstration of ethical marketing. This case also reminds brands that apart from selling the products, the way that a brand promotes themselves is also one of the consideration to consumers.
Before “Sustainability” become the trend keyword, Stella McCartney has already set Ethical fashion as the brand pillar label. (Vogue, 2017)
Stella McCartney has launched fur-free since 2001 after she leaved Chloé. When she started this revolution, there were thousand and hundred people doubt about it. McCartney is the role model of eco-friendly and sustainable fashion. From the beginning until present, the brands operated under their belief and mission - respecting for nature, human and animals.
“I approach the business in a way that I feel is morally correct and modern. It doesn’t mean that style and luxury need to be sacrificed” (Stella McCartney, 2017)
Fig.6
At the same time, Stella does not sacrifice her unique style of her design. Doing ethical fashion at the meanwhile keep it own style. Many consumers of Stella McCartney appreciate the brand values that Stella McCartney owns. Stella believes that technology using on garment or fashion can bring a better development to the industry, of cause, to the world also.
Being a model of ethical fashion brand, Stella McCartney works as a good example on the whole supply chain.
In this project, both primary and secondary research are required so that quantity and quality data can be collected result in a more potential research direction.
Regarding the primary research, in order to understand the perspective of how consumers consider ethical marketing, a quantitative questionnaire may require for analyzing the data. On the other hand, if the time is allowed, it is expected that focus groups on different types on consumers can be done during the stage 2. If necessary, physical store visit and observation may needed for further study.
For the secondary research, apart from desktop research, this project may basically focused on Journals, articles, books and other academic research on related topics. If necessary, past business performances of fashion brands in different market level will be analyzed for further investigation.
After the primary and secondary research are conducted in stage 2, it is expected a completed ethical marketing system can be developed so as to provide a better way for brands to promote themselves to their consumers. Another crucial expected outcome is to understand the limitation of the solutions. It is estimated that ethical marketing to some of the brands may have several blocks. According to these limitations, suggestion for tackling the problems can be made would be the third expected outcome.
Last but not least, sometimes marketing is about how much noise that the campaign can made. To some brands, making noise is just a short-term strategy which cannot be sustainable on both brand development and image. It is realized that those brands may struggling on how to make the business be more sustainable. Finding the best ways for these brands to solve the problem could be one of the expected outcome of this project.
Start from the early February, the stage 2 will be kicked start. According to the proposal done in stage 1, stage 2 will focus on the topic research. The primary research including questionnaire, focus group and store observation would be finished by the end of February so as to review and analyze the quantitative data as soon as possible. At the same time, secondary research is conducting in parallel. In depth literature review will be done in stage 2 also in order to understand more about the research topic. The secondary research would probably be done by the end of February too.
After all the data being managed in stage 2, all the ideas will come together with a clearer concepts base on the findings.
Fig 1. Stella McCartney, (n.d). Available at: https://bit.ly/2RiBUzg [Accessed 23 Jan. 2019]. Fig 2&3. Dolce & Gabbana, (2018). Available at: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2183186/dolce-gabbana-advert-completely-ruined-my-career-says-chinese [Accessed 21 Jan. 2019]. Fig 4. Gabbana Instagram Conversation, (2018). Available at: https://nextshark-vxdsockgvw3ki.stackpathdns.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/D-7.jpg [Accessed 21 Jan. 2019]. Fig 5. Stefano Gabbana, (2018). Available at: https://studybreaks.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/29-Stefano-Gabbana.w710.h473.2x.jpg [Accessed 21 Jan. 2019]. Fig 6. Stella McCartney SS19, (2019). Available at: https://baltic-grlk5lagedl.stackpathdns.com/production/baltic/images/1547719924567640-S19Campaign_Layout_MASTER_3_DPS.jpg?w=1900&fit=crop&crop=faces&fm=pjpg&auto=compress [Accessed 3 Apr. 2019].
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2.
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3.
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4.
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5.
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6.
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9.
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