Luxury brands’ use of CSR and femvertising: the case of jewelry advertising

Abstract

Purpose Luxury brands seek to differentiate themselves from competitors by engaging in corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. Although many luxury brands participate in CSR activities, it is unclear if luxury brands communicate these CSR activities to consumers. Therefore, this study aims to explore two questions: are luxury jewelry brands communicating CSR (including women’s empowerment) in their advertising? And how should luxury jewelry brands communicate CSR messages in their advertising? Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a content analysis of luxury jewelry print advertisements and in-depth interviews with 20 female jewelry consumers analyzed using grounded theory to construct the luxury brand CSR advertising strategies theory. Findings Very few (3%) of print advertisements contain CSR messages, including femvertising and the theory presents four paths for brands to consider when promoting CSR practices, namely, ethical sourcing, cause-related marketing product, a signal of product care and quality and signal of an authentic relationship with the consumer. Practical implications The model provides four potential CSR advertising strategies and guidelines luxury jewelry brands can use to create successful advertising campaigns. Originality/value Luxury jewelry advertising has not been empirically examined and the study fills gaps in the understanding of luxury brands’ communication strategies. It adds to the knowledge and theorizing of the use and appropriateness of CSR appeals in a luxury brand context.

Femvertising practices on social media: a comparison of luxury and non-luxury brands

“…The analysis involved the development of an 'a priori' coding framework on the basis of existing literature in this domain (Akestam et al, 2017;Eisend, 2010;Furnham and Mak, 1999;McArthur and Resko, 1975;Pankiw et al, 2020), albeit considering the elements of femvertising (Becker-Herby, 2016) and the objective of the study (see table 4 for the coding scheme). Given the specificities of social media (e.g., the format of the posts collected containing one or several pictures, descriptions, and hashtags) each advertisement was subjected to a two-level analysis (Berg, 1998).…”

“…Prior research indicates that femvertising is practiced differently for luxury and nonluxury brands. More specifically, Champlin et al (2019) find that nonluxury brands in various product categories (e.g., personal care, food), reflect femvertising in varied ways (e.g., focusing on different aspects such as gender stereotypes, equality), while Pankiw et al (2020) identify that luxury jewellery brands do not adopt femvertising in their printed advertising campaigns. The authors find that most of the luxury jewellery ads contain typical model-like depictions of women of mostly white ethnicity and minimal diversity.…”

“…Indeed, the extant literature illustrates that luxury brands tend to employ more stereotypical expressions in their advertising campaigns (Pankiw et al, 2020;Strebinger et al, 2018;Wilkes, 2015), conforming to more traditional portrayals of feminine and masculine beauty.…”

“…More specifically, luxury brands are found to use more white models (as opposed to models with diverse physical appearances and interracial/black ethnic/racial origin) in their ads (e.g., Pankiw et al, 2020), as they signal key and desirable attributes of luxury brands such as idealised beauty, hedonism, status, and sophistication (Gram, 2007;Hung et al, 2007;Martin, 2012;Sternadori and Abitbol, 2019). Pankiw et al, (2020) indicate that luxury jewellery brands predominantly use white, typical model-like depictions in their ads (e.g., young, thin, and highly attractive), and with a very small level of diversity. According to Strebinger et al (2018), white models are seen as more suitable when it comes to luxury brand advertising in eastern countries, providing some preliminary support as to the alignment of luxury values with less diversity.…”

“…Femvertising is considered an advertising appeal and includes several female features and expressions (e.g., body size and attractiveness) simultaneously (Åkestam et al, 2017). It questions widespread female stereotyping and confronts social stigma while promoting equality, inclusivity, and empowerment (Lucka et al, 2021;Pankiw et al, 2020;Sobande, 2020;Teng et al, 2021;Tsai et al, 2021). The idea behind femvertising is that brands can not only sell products or services, but also empower women (Ciambriello, 2014), thus breaking stereotypes and influencing society as a whole (Kapoor and Munjal, 2019).…”