Zooey Deschanel, star of the just-released film 500 Days of Summer, is the latest in a slew of celebrities to lend her voice to ad campaigns for Cotton Inc. The actress and chanteuse brings her trademark quirkiness to a commercial that showcases her own take on “The Fabric of Our Lives” jingle.
Deschanel is known for her eclectic, vintage-inspired fashion sense, which the Cotton ad cheerfully harnesses, seemingly to lend this cooperate conglomerate a little indie-cred. What’s troubling here is that cotton, often touted as “natural,” is produced with more harmful chemical pesticides than any other crop (see our recent post on organic cotton certification, and learn more at Organature.com). Having a lovely songstress chirp an upbeat jingle about it detracts from a major environmental issue. When Deschanel warbles “The fabric of our lives,” the appropriate enjoinder would be, “it’s full of pesticides.”
But Cotton Inc. is no stranger to green-washing: see their “Give Us Green…But Make it Fashionable” summer 2008 ad campaign. These ads featured phrases like, “When it’s cotton, you’ll know it’s green (even if it’s pink)” and “Cotton. Style that comes naturally.” Nothing could be further from the truth.
From CottonInc.com: “Through our research, we’ve discovered that the same consumer who’s concerned with the state of the environment also places an even higher priority on fashion when purchasing,” states Ric Hendee, vice president, marketing services, at Cotton Incorporated. “We’ve developed these three new ads to convey that cotton has always been and continues to be the natural choice for fashionable, eco-friendly clothing.”
Now, Deschanel is not the only celebrity currently shilling for Cotton—country singer Miranda Lambert and R&B singer Jazmine Sullivan are also featured on TheFabricofOurLives.com. But Deschanel stands out from the pack due to her unique style and lifestyle choices. The actress dabbles in veganism (she recently issued an all vegan, gluten- and soy-free challenge to the cooks on Top Chef!), and animal-loving vegans tend to be environmentalists by default. Eating vegetarian is one of the easiest ways to go green, as it helps cut down on resources used to feed the rest of the world. It makes sense, then, that vegans also tend to care about issues like global warming and using eco-friendly textiles.
When it comes to clothing choices, however, veganism and environmentalism aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. Vegans reject animal products in general, so that includes wool, silk and leather; fans of eco-fashion might tout some of these fabrics as earthy and natural, while a vegan is more likely to purchase a handbag or shoe made out of harmful PVC (polyvinyl chloride). We’ve discussed the growing vegan fashion trend here at Green Cotton before, and it’s a debate that needs more information exchanged on both sides of the issue. So just because Ms. Deschanel chooses to eat vegan does not mean she will always choose organic fabrics (even if the Cotton campaign leads us to believe that cotton was “green before it was even in style.”).
I’m not intentionally picking on Zooey Deschanel, because that would be hypocritical. Not everyone can afford to buy organic fashions, since natural fibers cost far more than conventional ones. As someone with many allergies and chemical sensitivities, I admit that 90% of my wardrobe is cotton; it has to be. But the conventional kind isn’t necessarily doing me and my sensitive skin any favors. I own a few organic garments and hope to collect more; I do try to offset my carbon footprint by shopping in vintage and thrift stores when I can. And someone like Zooey Deschanel is a major fashion inspiration who can afford to shop where and how she wants, and makes the perfect spokeswoman for vintage fashion. Imagine if she lent her voice to a campaign for authentically organic cotton? I look forward to seeing how Deschanel’s career unfolds, and hope that her future choices only positively impact the growing eco-fashion world.
Photosource: thefabricofourlives.com
Other sources used for this post:
Understanding GOTS organic cotton certification
Post By Erin Dale
I don’t call what has happened to cotton over the last 10 years “green washing”. See the evidence at:
http://cottontoday.cottoninc.com/
The information there is based on third party data and has a great deal of substance.
thanks for this post! i agree. i really like zooey deschanel’s work in film and music, but was a bit disappointed in this. i just would expect a young, hip actress who lends her face and voice to a product today to lend it to a green product. otherwise it just seems a bit self-serving and self-promotional. It’s great to stop and appreciate a textile we take for granted, but the next step needs to be taken of questioning how that gets to us and what the toll is. I’d like to see Zooey take a leaf out of Maggie Gyllenhaal’s book, who has promoted eco fashion, and show you can achieve unique but star-worthy style with it