Mindful Marketing
  • Home
  • About
    • Mission
    • Mindful Meter & Matrix
    • Leadership
  • Mindful Matters Blog
  • Engage Your Mind
    • Mindful Ads? Vote Your Mind!
  • Expand Your Mind
  • Contact

Dressing for Social Media

8/18/2017

15 Comments

 
Picture

by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence

Remember the first day back-to-school?  Amid the excitement, there’s concern about classes, stress about relationships, and, of course, wondering what to wear.  Social media has relieved some of that first-day wardrobe pressure in that people now post pics of themselves and others online all the time.  However, that constancy also makes the stress about what to wear continual.  One major retailer is tapping into the trend.    
 
Department store icon Macy’s has introduced a promotional campaign that plays on teenage girls’ tendencies to seek affirmation through the pictures they post of themselves on social media.  The ads, which appear on BuzzFeed, feature a variety of fashion photos, similar to those found on the retailer’s website for junior girls.  The difference is the accompanying text, which makes an unambiguous social media appeal, for instance:   
  • “Get ready to have a fashionable feed this fall, only with Macy’s.”
  • “11 Back-To-School Outfits That Were Totally Made for Social Media”
  • “You won’t blend into anyone’s feed dressed in this style trifecta.”
  • “Be an influencer and upload this cold-shoulder outfit.”
  • “Show off some shoulder and kitschy denim for a look that's guaranteed to get you the likes.”
  • “Make your #OOTD camera-ready with this edgy look.”
  •  “There's #NoFilter necessary with this boho-chic style.”
  • “Get the double-taps in this fluttering floral outfit.”
  • “Make your followers starry-eyed in this influential outfit.”
 
From a strategic perspective, Macy’s can be commended for matching its tactics to its target market.  So many people spend significant time on social media, as well as on websites like BuzzFeed, and teenage girls are among the most active users.
 
A 2015 Pew Research Center study found that “24% of teens go online “almost constantly,’” while 56% go online several times a day, enabled by the widespread use of smartphones.  While teen boys are somewhat more likely to visit Facebook, teen girls are more often on Instagram and Tumblr.  Overall, “Girls dominate social media,” while “boys are more likely to play video games.”
 
Frequent use of something is not necessarily a problem.  Many people are heavy users of technology and other tools that help them do their jobs or manage their personal lives more efficiently and effectively.  The problem is when those things become obsessive, which unfortunately is the way teen girls’ use of social media has evolved.  A 2017 CNN article explains:
 
“It's not a law that you have to post a selfie before, during, and after every activity. But for kids, it's pretty much mandatory.  The resulting likes, thumbs-ups, and other ratings all get tallied, both in the stark arithmetic of the Internet and in kids' own minds. For some -- especially girls -- what starts as a fun way to document and share experiences can turn into an obsession about approval that can wreak havoc on self-image.”
 
A survey titled “Children, Teens, Media, and Body Image,” provides some telling statistics that further detail teenage girls’ preoccupation with approval from others online:
  • “35 percent are worried about people tagging them in unattractive photos.”
  • “27 percent feel stressed about how they look in posted photos.”
  • “22 percent felt bad about themselves if their photos were ignored.”
 
For young women, the unfortunate outcomes of social media obsession are things like unhappiness, anxiety, depression, and over-sexualization, as a 2016 Time article explains: “One of the easiest ways to get that validation is by looking hot. Sex sells, whether you’re 13 or 35.”  Some girls even post provocative videos of themselves on YouTube, asking others to answer the question, “Am I pretty or ugly?”
 
This troubling context casts Macy’s social media ad appeal in a much different light.  While involvement in social media has many potential benefits, that participation has unfortunately turned into an addiction for some people, especially young women, who feel unique pressure to look good and to be liked online.
 
As such, teenage girls are probably the last people who should be promised that a certain outfit will “Make your followers starry-eyed” or that clothes will give “a look that's guaranteed to get you the likes.”  When someone is struggling with an addiction, we shouldn’t tempt them with the very thing that’s holding them hostage. Macy’s ads aimed at a young female target market, however, are analogous to putting a beer in front of an alcoholic and encouraging him to “Take a drink.”

So, there are certainly significant moral concerns related to Macy’s promotion.  There are also strategic ones.  A review of the comments on BuzzFeed suggests that people are not enamored with the ads.  Several of the posts mention that the outfits are more revealing than what most schools will allow.  Moreover, it’s likely that Millennials are skeptical about such an overt pitch.  These media-savvy and cynical consumers are already leery of ads, let alone ones that make improbable promises.
 
At first glance, Macy’s social media-connected ad campaign seems benign.  Deeper analysis, however, suggests that the promotion could easily aggravate the target market’s already unhealthy social media obsession; that is, if the young women believe the ads.  Consequently, the campaign looks like a case of “Mindless Marketing.”


Picture
Picture
Subscribe to Mindful Matters blog.
Learn more about the Mindful Matrix and Mindful Meter.
Check out Mindful Marketing Ads
 and Vote your Mind!
15 Comments
Katie Voorhies
9/8/2017 12:36:20 am

I personally agree that this marketing campaign is “mindless.” Macy’s fails to uphold societal values through encouraging young, impressionable girls to place important in their how they look online. Too many girls today find their value in how many likes, retweets, views, and comments they receive on their social media posts, especially photos they are in or “selfies” of themselves. My younger sister and her friends have even made comments about removing posts or photos if they do not receive enough “likes” for their satisfaction. However, powerful, influencing companies like Macy’s and BuzzFeed should be promoting to young women empowering ways to find their self-worth – through academics, hobbies, friendships, and talents.

While this Macy’s advertising campaign is not ethical, it also does not create stakeholder value through effective marketing. A majority of the clothing shown in the new line does not contain items that most increasingly strict high school and middle school dress codes would allow. Similarly, parents that would be purchasing these articles for their young daughters may not approve of the styles either. Parents buying clothing they do not approve of just for it to sit in their child’s closet because they cannot actually wear it to school does not create much of a value proposition for Macy’s new line.

Even though social media has become an important part of adolescents’ lives and even identities, young girls (and guys) should be encouraged to use social media platforms as a tool to connect with people and express themselves. This is much different than plastering images of themselves in order to receive affirmation from peers on their appearances, and then feeling bad about themselves when they don’t receive the response they had anticipated in their mind. With all the resources Macy’s has at their disposal, I believe they can come up with a better ad campaign than this.

Reply
Annabella Ching
9/8/2017 12:55:21 am

I do agree that there is an unhealthy obsession with social approval on social media, especially among girls. I remember when I first created an Instagram account in 2013, almost all photos on my Instagram feed were photos about people's daily lives and memorable events, such as a photo of their food, their family, a group photo they have taken in a friends' outing, etc. It was focused on the special moments in life, though occasionally there were selfies and OOTDs. However I realized the trend of Instagram has changed tremendously over the recent years. I am not entirely sure about the trend in the US, but in many parts of Asia, Instagram has become a platform for users to create their own sort of themes and aesthetics, and later, "social media influencers" became a real full-time job. Social Media, especially Instagram, has created a new kind of beauty standard in this era, in which users strive to reach that level of "perfection" in their profile. They have to look and dress a certain way in order to be attractive enough. The trend is no longer so much about sharing life events, but more on competing who gets the most likes and who reaches the beauty standards. It has become all about approval and appraisal from others.

I think that this ad campaign of Macy's is somehow mindless, promoting the unhealthy obsession among social media users, that they have to dress this certain way to gain more "likes". However, I do not think that they intended to promote this negative value on purpose, rather, they were trying to keep up with the current trend without realizing what they are promoting.

Reply
Raquelle Gonzalez
9/20/2017 01:06:46 pm

I wholeheartedly agree that many young girls and adults alike crave attention and approval on social media. The trend of going to popular places to add a geo-tag on social media, or making sure you have a cute outfit on for Instagram pictures is something I know all too well, and I'm sure many other millennials can agree on doing the same. Macy's ad is something that many young adults. specifically girls, can relate to, and in some senses it brings in humor and sarcasm, however I agree with a previous comment that this ad is not ethical. It somehow also mocks millennial's constant need to have enough social media likes. This ad, in my opinion, was mindless and only attributed to the unhealthy standards that social media often promotes.

Reply
Juliana Coover
9/20/2017 09:00:54 pm

Macy’s promotional advertisements seem acceptable at surface level, but there are underlying issues that have a negative effect on teenage girls. Social media has rapidly been taking over in many people’s lives within the past few years. Almost everywhere I look, people are on their phones. I am always shocked when I go to a restaurant and I see teenagers and even adults on their phones while at the dinner table with their family. From what I have seen on social media, there seems to be a constant trend of trying to impress others or trying to fit in with the crowd. This fuels a greater addiction to social media.

As it is mentioned in the blog, social media has become an obsession, especially with teenage girls. Social media has its benefits, but it is important to recognize the fine line between a healthy use of social media and an unhealthy use of social media. In the Macy ad situation, girls are pushed further to seek social acceptance and to create a perfect image of themselves. To strive for perfection is a harmful goal, and the Macy’s ads will inevitably lead girls to that point. I think Macy’s could have went in a more inspirational, uplifting direction for their ads. The ads should have incorporated something to make young girls feel confident in who they are rather than how they are going to look in their next social media post. I understand that Macy’s is selling back-to-school clothes to a market that is infatuated with social media, but I wish they would have been mindful of the current situation with teenage girls and social media. It is important for influential brands to guide the younger generation to a positive place.

Reply
Brittany Hampton
9/21/2017 10:59:44 am

At any given time, I can tell you exactly which picture on my Instagram feed has the most likes and comments. I guarantee that most other girls in my generation will say the same thing. I was extremely fortunate in that my parents emphasized Psalm 139:14 (“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”) but the majority of girls my age and younger have not had the same ideas instilled in them. Instead, they are fed the message that their worth comes from their sex appeal and how many “friends” or likes they can get on social media. For a generation that is spending 11 hours and 26 minutes on social media platforms a day, (ypulse.com) social media can play a huge part in teens relationships with others, and with themselves. Macy’s marketers were smart in finding a weakness and exploiting it so they can earn a bigger paycheck, but they obviously acted extremely irresponsibly by perpetuating the ways young people are already self-conscious and seeking worldly approval. Shopping for clothes can and should be fun, but when Macy’s turns it into a popularity contest for teens with an already fragile self-image, I cannot help but see this as mindless marketing.

Reply
Christian Pavlovich
9/21/2017 11:15:39 am

Although initially it may seem harmless, Macy’s social media focused fashion campaign is detrimental to the physical, emotional, and mental health of those who heed its message. Social media has many benefits but not among those is the great deal of harm that is done to self-esteem. Social media can be a very fake place. People put out the version of themselves they hope people see not necessarily who they really are. That is not to say people can’t change and instill self-confidence through presenting a new look. I enjoy wearing a certain outfits from time to time more then others because I think I look really good in them. However when day in and out self-confidence and happiness comes from the notifications related to how we looked that day on social media we have to admit there is a problem. Macy’s ad is trying to offer girls the opportunity to look perfect for social media with their outfits. The problem with this logic is that no one needs to look perfect. No outfit or viral post will give you lasting happiness. Affirmation through a screen is short lived and the longer young people believe this the more people we will see get really hurt by it. Macy’s is mindless in their marketing strategy here because of the obviously harmful effects of obsessive social media usage in the search for affirmation.

Reply
Jake Miaczynski
9/21/2017 02:42:36 pm

For starters, I know that this article was geared mainly towards young women, but I found this alarmingly relatable. I don’t know if it’s just because of my extreme feminine personality or if I’m just weird, but I too struggle with “dressing for social media,” for the likes, for the reactions, etc. if I’m being completely honest. At first, I was like, “Wow, what a great way to hit your target market.” However, once the article started speaking on the underlying, damaging effects of this campaign by provided concrete evidence, my “addiction” started to come into the light.
The sentence that hit me the hardest was as follows: “When someone is struggling with an addiction, we shouldn’t tempt them with the very thing that’s holding them hostage.” While I can see what Macy’s is trying to do, the act of playing on an addiction of another individual that has been proven to cause physiological and emotional damage is unethical at its core. If “35 percent are worried about people tagging them in unattractive photos,” ”27 percent feel stressed about how they look in posted photos,” and “22 percent felt bad about themselves if their photos were ignored,” then maybe targeting your audience through hashtags, Instagram photos, and Tumblr blogs is not the way to go.
In Chapter Six of the textbook, the author discusses the social responsibility of a firm with its employees, customers, marketplace, and society. Specifically, in speaking on customers, it says that “firms must consider the effects on the customers who currently patronize them and future customers who they are targeting” (79). If this is true, then I really don’t consider Macy’s social media targeted approach to be ethical. The effects that this campaign has on customers are listed in the blog post: unhappiness, anxiety, depression, and over-sexualization. If these effects are a stake, I would hope that in the gathering information stage of the framework for ethical decision making, Macy’s would have considered these implications. If so, maybe in the end they thought it was ethical, but I am in full agreement with the blog post’s decision that this campaign is mindless marketing.

Reply
advertising agencies nyc link
10/12/2017 01:48:40 pm

The present time is that of the technology. The internet is not just a place to access information but it has its horizon broadened to include eCommerce, marketing, communication and social networking.

Reply
Kenny Wang
10/21/2017 05:59:51 pm

For a generation of people who consistently criticize our younger generation for always being on social media and technology, it seems ironic that they would run this promotional campaign. I agree that this is a mindless ad. If they truly thought that social media and technology was an issue, they should feed into the addiction and temptation of online affirmation for young, impressionable girls. Even as a teenage boy, I fall into the void of wanting online affirmation. I imagine it is a much stronger those temptations are for a young girl when society tells her she needs this affirmation. Like you said in the blog, young, teenage girls are worried, stressed, and anxious about what gets posted about them on social media. The consequences can be devastating for a growing and developing girl. This ad is tailored for girls of this age, but it is targeting a dangerous part of them. This makes the girls feel like they need these outfits so that other people will like them, rather than empowering them and making them feel wonderful and beautiful in their outfits. There is a fine line between those and can be difficult to differentiate, but one that is important to understand. Macy’s clearly crossed the line with this campaign and I agree that it was mindless on their part.

Reply
Zach Argue
10/23/2017 01:15:20 am

I would completely and one hundred percent agree with the conclusion that this ad campaign should be classified under mindless marketing. It is honestly quite appalling that Macy's would either: knowingly feed "an obsession about approval that can wreak havoc on self-image" that is basically an addiction, or be that ignorant of the consequences of tapping into such an unstable and vulnerable part of a developing mind's psyche. On top of that, this is all misguided because those who are not as vulnerable are "media-savvy and cynical consumers," so all around its a lose lose situation for Macy's.

Reply
Kristyanne Crosby
10/23/2017 09:32:55 pm

I found this article very interesting. I think that it addressed a lot of important points about marketing in a social media saturated society. I agree that it is mindless marketing. The ad campaign does not uphold societal values. It focus solely on superficial appearances and how to cultivate the best image on social media. It is preying on impressionable young women who are seeking constant approval from their peers. Although the company is doing a good job of finding their target market on buzzfeed, it does not do an effective job in creating stockholder value either. Millennials do not typically respond well to overt pitches. When companies make obvious ploys to get the attention of the millennials, young people typically view those companies as irrelevant. “Trying too hard” will not entice the typical millennial fashion seeker. Macy's created a mindless ad that focuses on the superficial and through overt advertising misses their target market.

Reply
Nate Sandoval
2/2/2018 01:08:00 pm

For me, it is no doubt that Macy's is at fault for mindless marketing here. The choice to use social media was crucial, and an excellent one at that, but the execution was off. The line they use is very corny and I think that their specific target market may be in fact turned away. Being less direct with their tag line and to their social media followers may have been more effective. Overall, it was a swing and a miss for Macy's as they fed into negative societal values and tried to market using such.

Reply
viral instagram link
8/8/2018 11:25:25 am

It matters alot.

Reply
aussiewritingreview link
9/27/2018 02:00:45 am

Being well dressed on social media is the thing which has always been on the priority because you sure want to give good impression. Others are surely going to judge so many things from that post there.

Reply
MckinneyVia link
5/11/2022 12:08:33 am

Thanks for sharing this useful information! Hope that you will continue with the kind of stuff you are doing.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Subscribe to receive this blog by email

    Editor

    David Hagenbuch,
    founder of
    Mindful Marketing    & author of Honorable Influence

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014

    Categories

    All
    + Decency
    + Fairness
    Honesty7883a9b09e
    * Mindful
    Mindless33703c5669
    > Place
    Price5d70aa2269
    > Product
    Promotion37eb4ea826
    Respect170bbeec51
    Simple Minded
    Single Minded2c3169a786
    + Stewardship

    RSS Feed

    Share this blog:

    Subscribe to
    Mindful Matters
    blog by email


    Illuminating
    ​Marketing Ethics ​

    Encouraging
    ​Ethical Marketing  ​


    Copyright 2020
    David Hagenbuch

Proudly powered by Weebly