PR in the News: Ethics and PR – Shein

      It is said that within an organization, public relations practitioners must be the standard bearers of corporate ethical initiatives. PR agency advisors must also always counsel clients ethically, towards honesty and accuracy rather than lying and hiding. The Council of Public Relations Firms’ board of directors created a code of ethics and principles that outlines the ethical standards of the public relations profession (Seitel, 2019). A link to the full document outlining the PR Council’s Code of Ethics and Principles can be found here.

      One company that has faced backlash and questioning on their ethics is Shein. Shein is a fast-fashion retailer that has climbed to tremendous popularity recently based on their huge variety of items available and their low prices. Shein’s target consumers consist mainly of Generation Z individuals. Recently, many target consumers have begun to question the impact of the company on the business environment, as well as the physical environment. Because of Shein’s low prices, many see this as an easy way to purchase trending clothes without spending too much money. This has led to overconsumption, which is a huge cause of environmental waste (Bangalore, 2023). This clothing often ends up in landfills in worldwide, where communities are forced to burn the clothes, leading to air and water pollution locally. Pictured below is a landfill in Kenya, displaying thousands of trashed clothing items.

(Kato, 2023)

      One of the main issues that the public has with Shein is how they do not offer up any information about where they source materials from, emissions, or their volume of production. The only type of strategy Shein’s PR team used to try and improve their reputation was to invite influencers to visit the factory headquarters and encourage them to post content about the stellar working conditions and concerns for the environment. This trip did not have the intended result, as the public recognized this as an attempt to divert attention from the bad press they were receiving (Bargeron, 2023). Many of the influencers involved saw their reputations harmed as a result as well. This Tiktok video outlines how these social media influencers met backlash after taking this brand trip. This is a clear example of PR professionals not following the code of ethics and straying away from candor more towards dishonesty and hiding. This is not a good outcome for Shein’s reputation. To repair their reputation and gain trust from consumers, Shein must rethink their PR practices and make the decision to align them with the code of ethics.

References

Bangalore, S. (2023, August 11). Shein's mounting ethical concerns may be pushing some Gen Z shoppers to look elsewhere. CBS News - Breaking news, 24/7 live streaming news & top stories. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/shein-controversy-why-is-it-so-popular/

Bargeron, S. (2023, July 5). What can luxury learn from the Shein PR debacle? Campaign Asia. https://www.campaignasia.com/article/what-can-luxury-learn-from-the-shein-pr-debacle/485212

Kato, B. (2023, February 17). Mountains of trashed, trendy clothes overflow landfills, hurt environment: Report. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2023/02/16/mountains-of-trashed-trendy-clothes-overflow-landfills-hurt-environment-report/

Seitel, F. P. (2019). The Practice of Public Relations (14th ed.). Pearson.