The footwear and accessories company bought a full-page advertisement in The New York Times on Sunday to support attempts to increase recycling rates by modernising the state’s 40-year-old bottle collection programme. This week, the firm will highlight the “Bigger, Better Bottle Bill” on its social media platforms, provide information on how to contact state lawmakers to express support on its e-commerce website, and use its Nolita store as a call centre.
A generation of customers who expect firms to take a stand on important topics has already flooded the market with social impact and eco-marketing promises. However, the big-budget advertising efforts of businesses have frequently fallen short of what jaded customers have come to expect. As a result, there is a growing overlap between political activism and marketing as some companies view this as a chance to show that they not only support a certain set of values but are also actively trying to alter the system in order to support them.
Jamie Gersch, chief marketing officer of Rothy, stated that consumers want companies to connect to something more meaningful than just the products they sell, therefore they needed to ensure that they were leveraging their platforms to inspire other people to interact with them.
The next, marketing
The Bigger Better Bottle Bill in New York proposes to boost the reward for returns and handling while also extending the state’s current bottle collection operation to new types of containers. Advocates claim that it will lessen trash, increase recycling rates, and help the underprivileged community of canners who make a living by collecting and redistributing used bottles in New York.
Weeks before the law, which has broad support from environmental and community organisations, is anticipated to go to a vote, Rothy launches his campaign. With approachable, lighthearted marketing like “give a dime about plastic.”
According to Ryan Carson, the coordinator of the New York Public Interest Research Group’s environmental campaign, the law has the potential to “transform” the way New York manages garbage.
Motives
Supporting the law was a no-brainer for Rothy’s, which estimates that it has transformed over 159 million plastic bottles into shoes and bags. Although the brand’s statement in favour of recycling is unmistakable, it also focuses on a hotly debated topic around how fashion firms should be disclosing their usage of recycled plastic.
Contrary to water bottles, clothing is also washed in machines that allow microplastics to leak from synthetic fibres into rivers. Fashion firms should be transparent regarding these trade-offs when advertising recycled polyester items, according to proposed anti-greenwashing regulations in Europe.
According to Saskia van Gendt, head of sustainability at Rothy, the company’s shoes are more durable and effective at preventing plastic from ending up in landfills than one-time-use water bottles, which although being able to be recycled several times still have short life cycles.
New era of AdvocacyÂ
It’s expected to become more typical to see companies take strong positions on environmental and social policy when more environmental and social impact regulations are implemented, especially where company objectives, consumer values, and policy activities are in alignment, according to experts.
Lessons from prior waves of brand activism should be kept in mind by businesses interested in openly engaging in policy debates: authenticity and persistence are crucial, as is proof of sincere commitment.
According to Ken Pucker, a senior lecturer at the Tufts Fletcher School, fashion brands should support policies that alter the entire model rather than just applying a bandage to existing problems if they want the industry to have any possibility of achieving the tsunami of sustainability commitments created over the past few years.
