Authentic Fashion Brand CSR through Effective Social Media Marketing and Branding Communications: A Case Study Approach

Due to increasing consumer demands from fashion companies to support social causes, practice sustainability and actively contribute to making a better world, many fashion businesses are designing marketing collateral and campaigns around corporate social responsibility (CSR) and ethical initiatives. For fashion brands to maintain their brand DNA, it is imperative that CSR reflects brands’ core values and maintains authenticity and alignment with shifting consumer views. The purpose of this study is to investigate a selection of fashion marketing communications on social media of a small group of fashion brands, across different market levels. The aim of this investigation is to assess alignment of the fashion brand values with the brand’s CSR strategies to determine how authentic this alignment is. To achieve these aims the study examines the match between the branding and various stakeholder communications with regards to corporate social responsibility. The study is undertaken in the form of critical literature review and drawing upon a range of case studies from a small group of fashion brands. Theories included in the Literature Review are: sustainability, circular economy, transactional cost theory and stakeholder theory, authenticity, CSR, brand values, mission and vision and Expectancy Disconfirmation Theory (EDT). The results aim to highlight that social media effectiveness in communicating CSR is conditional on the alignment of brand DNA and type of stakeholder. The results further show that despite the brands using different approaches for different stakeholders, the core values embedded within marketing and branding should be authentic in order to validate EDT.