Persuasive Project

The exploitation of women workers in the production of clothes by fast fashion brands is

an issue that plagues today’s society. Women workers find themselves in an agonizing situation as they are appallingly underpaid for their labor. They are exploited by fast fashion brands that aim to increase their profit margins by mass producing garments that are in style at prices that are affordable to their target audience. Although adolescent girls and women are intent on purchasing trendy, chic, and inexpensive clothing, my stance is to persuade them against buying clothes from fast fashion brands because they perpetuate sexism.

Open Society Foundations (2020) mentioned that the factory workers that are most

disadvantaged are women, with about 80 percent of fast fashion workers belonging to that

gender and being people of color. This information reveals that women primarily comprise the workforce in the factories that mass produce clothes for fast fashion brands. Jain (2023) stated that conversations about women’s rights are a farce for as long as we shop from fast fashion brands that exploit women instead of making clothing purchases that are cognizant of gender discrimination. It is evident that spending money towards fast fashion, means enabling discrimination against women, and taking several steps backwards from pay parity.

My audience consists of adolescent girls and young women who belong to the age

bracket of 18-29 years. The clothes made by fast fashion brands cater to this age group, since these youngsters desire to purchase the latest styles of clothing at low prices. I would inform the audience that those that made it possible to meet their desires, are the ones that grapple the most with gender discrimination as they are paid unreasonably low wages. I will communicate this information through a social media campaign to raise awareness on the adversities experienced by women workers that are enabled by fast fashion brands to meet their profit goals at the expense of the earnings of women workers. This age group falls into two categories: Gen-Z and millennials, two generations that are inclined towards making the world a better, more equitable place. Gen-Z and millennials are avid users of social media. Hence, a video challenge on Youtube, that works by nominating three friends to purchase three less pieces of clothing from fast fashion brands could prove to be an effective method of raising awareness about the pay disparity concerning women laborers working in factories for these brands.

According to McKinsey & Company (2019) the willingness of youngsters to purchase

products depends on whether the values of a business reflect socially and environmentally

conscious decisions. Gen-Z and Millennials value making strides towards the betterment of the world, and will only put their money towards firms that aim to do so. Kale (2021) mentioned that Gen-Z’s fixation on being fashionable serves to be a hurdle as they make purchases from fast fashion brands, despite wanting to make choices that benefit society. The target audience of fast fashion brands is naturally inclined to making decisions in the interest of the greater good. The awareness campaign can spark the shift from being enamored and keen on purchasing new clothes that are popular in the moment, to making decisions that truly benefit the world.

The Social Judgment Theory is suitable for this issue as it draws attention to the information that the target audience would be swayed by and is open to learning about. There are three categories that are described in the theory. These are: latitude of acceptance, latitude of rejection, and latitude of noncommitment. Gen-Z and Millennial women are known to be change-makers, placing the idea of tackling sexism in the fast fashion industry that functions on the low wages paid to women workers in their latitude of acceptance. Since young women are the target consumers of fast fashion brands, they would make decisions that are considerate of women workers and promote equality.

The widespread purchase of clothes from fast fashion brands can be minimized by raising

awareness on the low wages being paid to the women workers producing these garments by

appealing to the latitude of acceptance of the target audience that these brands cater to.