It is quite surprising how little media coverage H&M got after a Swedish national TV programme revealed the multinational retailer was actually burning its clothes on a power plant. There's nothing on the two major news agencies, Reuters or AP. There was some reporting on Bloomberg, from a purely financial perspective, and a story on Euronews.
Here in the UK, only The Independent published an article about it. We found out through following Livia Firth on Instagram, who promoted the coverage by Fashion United. We find this lack of media attention disconcerting. We advocate transparency, people have the right to know what they're buying into, and stop shopping brands that are unethical.
This comes at the time when H&M launches the new Christmas campaign featuring Nicki Minaj, who earns double-digit millions with her music. Last year, H&M campaign was much more elaborate, with a short film by Wes Anderson, the director of The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Oscar winner Adrien Brody.
In 2015, the face of H&M Christmas campaign was Katy Perry, who was listed by Forbes magazine as one of the world's highest paid women in music the following year. Models are recognised as paid to sell a brand, but when celebrities star on advertising campaigns, they endorse the brand and lead their followers into purchasing things from it.
Shouldn't they be a bit more conscientious and maybe ask their PR to do some media coverage research on that particular brand? The whole situation is disgraceful, a multinational retailer burns unsold clothes and the media doesn't seem to pay much attention, and celebrities give their face to brands without realising what they're actually endorsing. We don't know about you, but we definitely won't be doing our Christmas shopping at H&M!