Lets go shwopping!

The current economic crisis did not bring about the predicted end of Capitalism that we were warned about. Instead we have endured a prolonged recession/depression. The carefree days of frivolous consumer spending that seemed to characterise the previous decade and a half  have become a distant memory for the majority. For economies built around the idea of ever increasing growth in consumer spending, the crisis has created a prolonged decline, with increasing unemployment and economic contraction. Small open economies such as Ireland have been particularly vulnerable.  In Ireland the volume of retail sales (excluding motors) fell by over 15% between March 2008 and March 2012 (CSO, 2012) as the impact of rising unemployment and a major property market crash took their toll. Retailers have had to work harder to get consumers to buy, in light of falling discretionary income, and economic uncertainty. Their customers are no longer willing, or no longer able to consume as much as before. 

In light of falling consumer sentiment retailers have had to come  up with new ways to drag us all back in to their stores with our wallets open. Value is one of the key factors. The disposable fast paced nature of fashion, has been accelerated by high-street stores such as Primark and H&M, who brought affordable fast fashion to all. Primark, or Penneys in the Republic of Ireland, has prospered in the recession. However, as fashion became more affordable and thus more democratic, new problems emerged. The avalance of stuff we have consumed is begining to occupy our homes and take over our lives. Not to worry though, a bastion of the British High street is on hand to give us a helping hand.

"M&S have a big idea... Shwopping"

The actress, Joanna Lumley is fronting a new advertising campaign for the British retailer Marks & Spencer with the tag-line "lets go shwopping". A plummy voice and a catchy tag-line aims to get people to stop, listen - and go shwopping! The idea behind the campaign is to encourage shoppers to swop out their old/unwanted clothes and buy new ones. The inducement is that you will receive a money off voucher to spend in-store and you will also be helping their partner charity Oxfam, who will re-use your old clothing, either by selling them in their retail stores or by recycling them.  Marks & Spencer want you to raid your wardrobe for the clothes that lurk in the back and that you never wear. They want the ones that no longer fit the way they used to, the jumper your grandmother bought you which is two sizes too big, or that rude novelty t-shirt you purchased on the Internet at 2.00am one night after the pub. Here we are presented with the ultimate solution to an overflowing wardrobe. No longer do we have to look at a wardrobe full of our fashion faux pas. Any guilt over a wardrobe full of clothes you never wear can easily be expunged by engaging in the act of shwopping! This is shopping for the recession wary world. 

This campaign aims to recast the way we think about shopping. It illustrates the manner in which contemporary consumption operates. It has moved beyond the simple marketing of a product. It has now turned to marketing a lifestyle. It signifies the quest for authenticity that contemporary consumers strive to achieve. This could be seen in the rise of the designer logo emblazoned clothing of the 1990's. Wearing clothing with logos such as Calvin Klein or Tommy Hilfiger, allowed the consumer to buy into the aura associated with the brand. This has evolved to the branding of complete lifestyle experiences. Retailers that have been most successful have aligned themselves with an authentic "way of life" . Step into an Urban Outfitters store and you will see a particular version of urban life which is a carefully choreographed image of what the young urban dweller should consume to achieve this life. The idea of 'swhopping' is creating an aura of an authentic environmentally sound lifestyle.

What began as seemingly earnest attempts to make do with less at the start of the economic crisis saw the emergence of swop shops, second-hand clothes stores, and the increasing popularity of eBay. On-line retailers like ASOS created a market for young urban fashion consumers to sell their pre-owned, and vintage fashion items, so that they can in turn purchase more consumer items. These increasingly popular activities, give the impression that they are the exact opposite of the rampant consumerism of before. They re-use old clothing, and embrace the idea that products are made to last and can be repaired and renewed. While this may have been the ideal, it was not long before this had been appropriated by mainstream consumer society.

Vintage clothing is now a distinctive style in most of the mainstream fashion retailers. They offer the reproduction of authentic vintage clothing, which is even better than the real thing. It is free of funky stains and musky smells and on the surface is more appealing than the real thing. What is more important is the aura that becomes associated with the product. By buying the item you are attempting to get closer to the aura of the original item of clothing it was based on, or the music or fashion movement that made it popular in the first place. This is where we need to turn to the work of twentieth century cultural analysis Walter Benjamin.

Benjamin was a prolific writer on the experience of European urban life in the early twentieth century before his untimely death on the Franco-Spanish border in 1940, as he tried to escape Nazi occupied France. In his 1936 essay, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, he explores the concept of Aura. He explains how the reproduction of a piece of art cannot recreate the aura associated with the original piece. In the past week (02 May, 2012) we can see that Edward Munch's The Scream was sold for over €91 million. The value attached to the original is not the same as a poster print you buy in your local shopping centre. While they may both look the same, the reprint or reproduction lacks the authenticity. Society places value on authenticity. Technology allows us to reproduce art, and it allows us to get closer to the authentic experience, however it has not yet succeeded in recreating the authentic experience of the piece. Contemporary consumer society reproduces culture and tries to bring the shopper closer to the aura of an authentic lifestyle experience. It recreates lifestyles for us to purchase in our local shopping centre. What is the Aura that Marks & Spencer is trying to recreate here?

James T. Twitchwell in his book, Lead us into Temptation: The Triumph of American Materialism (1999) speaks of the Terror of thrash and the central position it has in consumer culture.

“Trash is the lipstick on the collar, the telltale blond hair, cheek-smudge.”

Trash or rubbish as we like to call it on this side of the Atlantic is the evidence or remnants created by our consumer society. The abundance of cheap consumer items leads to the crisis of storage in our homes. We then have to invest money in storage solutions for our stuff - perhaps convert our garage, build a shed, or even hire a storage unit to hide the amount of stuff we have amassed. Beyond this there is the problem of disposal and the amount of material we are sending to landfill. This advert provides the ultimate solution... shwopping. We are not only making room for more items in our homes, we are dealing with the guilt of consumer society too. Marks & Spencer have grasped this idea full on with their Plan A strategy. In their 2011 report on the progress of Plan A, Richard Gillies, the director of Plan A CSR and sustainable business  explains that "Backed by a strong business case, Plan A is at the heart of the exciting new growth plans for M&S both in the UK and internationally."

M&S Cork May 2012

Swhopping is example of how capitalism adjusts and incorporates anti-capitalist ideas, such as swopping and bartering, into an act of consumption. Capitalism has adjusted to suck us all back in, with the illusion of austere, thoughtful, almost therapeutic consumption. While Marks & Spencer have partnered with Oxfam before on a similar scheme, this is a major step up in terms of publicity. Shwopping is being sold as a way to buy into a environmentally and socially responsible way of life. Plan A is the pathway by which M&S will help their shoppers to live a greener life, and continue buying. However, what M&S are really doing, particularly in this campaign is reproducing a Utopian environmentally sound dreamworld. They will take away your unloved items of clothing and allow you to buy newer more 'authenticly improved' items of clothing. This is were we get closer to understanding how consumer society needs to operate to maintain itself.

"... and I encourage you all to go shopping more"

G.W. Bush, December 20th, 2006

The global economic crisis has changed the way we shop. Capitalism has adjusted to respond to these changes. However, some of this crisis stems from over-consumption in the recent past. While we deal with the hangover of lifestyle debt, and economic and environmental uncertainty, retailers have to work harder to encourage us to shop. As Joanna Lumley explains "Our aim is to recycle as many clothes as we sell and change shopping forever". Marks and Spencer, and every other retailer at that, don't care how you do it, as long as you keep shopping. This will keep the dream of consumer capitalism alive as customers chase the aura of authentic lifestyle experiences. So lets all get out there and go shwopping, shopping, or just go on and start buying all that stuff you don't really need again. Consumer society needs YOU to keep the dream alive!