The outstanding case of Patagonia – How a company advertising not to buy their products is still a word-leading company

The purpose of advertising is usually to sell products or to generate publicity for the brand. Therefore, ads normally show a product promoting the price and the advantages of an article – or, even better, how one’s life will improve thanks to its purchase. Well, reality shows that not every company applies this strategy.

How can Patagonia be a world-leading company even though their ads tell you not to buy their products?

Black Friday Campaign

Patagonia, a designer of outdoor clothing and gear for outdoor sports, ran a PR campaign on Friday, November 25, 2011 telling people not to buy the jacket in the ad. The date was chosen wisely to raise awareness of today’s consumerism, especially boosted through marketing promotions like Black Friday – the day in which retail turns from red to black and starts to make real money. The purpose of the campaign was to encourage people to consider the environmental effects of consumerism and to purchase only what they really needed.

On Black Friday 2011, Patagonia’s article appeared in The New York Times. “Don’t buy this jacket” was written underneath a large picture of it, followed by an explanation of the environmental impact of the production of this specific jacket from the beginning of its journey until the end (To give you an example, one jacket requires 135 litres of water, which correspond to the daily needs of 45 people!). Patagonia’s aim is to be in business for a long time and to leave a world inhabitable for future generations. Therefore, they encourage consumers to buy less and to reflect upon their purchase – even when it comes to their very own jacket. They are aware that environmental bankruptcy can happen very slowly and then all of a sudden.

Furthermore, Patagonia promoted their Common Threats Initiative with the 5 keywords – reduce, repair, reuse, recycle, reimagine. To encourage second-hand sales, they offered to co-list your Patagonia article that you are trying to sell on eBay on their website by taking the Common Threats Initiative pledge.

Business strategy

However, Patagonia’s business is based on selling products. Everyone’s pay check relies on that and one needs to consider that it is a growing business, constantly opening new stores across the globe. Given that, how can this business strategy work and make Patagonia an internationally leading company?

Patagonia’s mission reads as follows: “We’re in business to save our planet”. Reducing consumption and implementing solutions to remedy the environmental crisis is part of their mission. A healthy economy cannot be based on selling products people do not need. The company has set criteria for their products, such as functionality, durability and repairability. The clothes should be beautiful but not in thrall to fashion. The core values, simplicity and utility, reflect those of a business started by climbers and surfers and the minimalist style they promoted.

The memorable full-page advertisement “Don’t buy this jacket” in The New York Times in 2011 helped to increase Patagonia’s 2012 sales significantly. Critics however, claim that Patagonia’s philosophy might have attracted many shoppers to the brand without deeply affecting their buying habits.  This is suggested by the way that “Don’t buy this jacket” was for many simply translated into “Buy this jacket” in 2012. Despite this, it is incontestable that the anti-consumerism strategy is clearly helping to build the brand, given that the company is witnessing double-digit annual growth. Even though Patagonia has often made risky choices in favour of ecological and social aims, including early estimations that consumers would pay more for high quality fair-trade products, it turned out to be a successful strategy. Reports show that the company could indeed find a largely untapped market of sophisticated customers who support the idea of anti-consumerism by consciously consuming their products.

To conclude, by launching this extraordinary campaign the company followed what theorists of corporate social responsibility believe, namely, a successful activist company goes through a process of making sense of things. In Patagonia’s case this was well applied, since it led people to self-inquiry regarding their own consumption behaviour. Patagonia is looking forward to a more sustainable future, where people buy less at higher prices due to the high-quality and environmentally-friendly production. The goal is again functionality, durability and repairability.

Anna L.

Sources:

Patagonia, (2011). “Don’t Buy This Jacket, Black Friday and the New York Times”, THE CLEANEST LINE, published on November 25^th, 2011.

https://www.patagonia.com/blog/2011/11/dont-buy-this-jacket-black-friday-and-the-new-york-times/

MacKinnon, J.B. (2015). “Patagonia’s Anti-Growth Strategy”, THE NEW YORKER, published on May 21^th, 2015.

https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/patagonias-anti-growth-strategy