Social campaigns to encourage responsible fashion consumption: qualitative study with university students

Abstract

A fruitful line of research on responsible consumption has recently emerged due to a concern for and interest in environmental issues and the growing resource depletion, providing an opportunity for communications to influence human behavior toward environmental protection. This paper shows the design, implementation, and impact assessment of two social campaigns aimed to inform the public of the effects of an overconsumption of clothing and encourage responsible consumption. We designed a non-experimental, descriptive, qualitative study based on 30 semi-structured interviews with university students in Bogotá, Colombia, from variables such as campaigns’ message, behavioral intentions, and relationship with the social and environmental context. The results show the students’ unawareness of overconsumption but suggest a positive impact on their intentions to increase responsible apparel consumption. This study contributes to empirical knowledge of better alternatives for effective messages that favor responsible consumption.