Initial Poster

Initial Poster

This is the Mood board I created from my initial research into the downfall of high Street Brand Topshop. The focus of this moodbaord is the scandals surrounding Celebrity endorsed collaborations with the brand and also the relation between brand owner Sir Phillip Green and the #MeToo Campaign. The two celebrity collaborations I have included are Kate Moss’ 2007 range in which the brand was accused of ‘slave labour’ hiring workers from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India and having the workers pay £725 to fly themselves to Mauritius to work in sweatshop conditions 70 hours per week only receiving 40p and hour. The other celebrity scandal revolves around Beyonce’s Ivy Park Range with the brand. The controversy was brought to light when it was found that the brand said to bring female empowerment was hiring mostly female workers to create the garments being paid only £4.30 a day in Sri Lankan Swaetshops in similar conditions to those working on the Kate Moss range. The words ‘Topshop’ and ‘Boycott’ have been used in the same sentence a number of times in the past, however most recently being used in relation to Green’s involvement in the MeToo controversy. The hashtag #PinknotGreen was going around when it came to light that the brand owner was accused of sexual harassment and racial abuse towards staff, he used non-disclosure agreements to buy the silence of the alleged victims. The association between Green and the movement was damaging to the brands identity and profits even before the accusations were proven to be true. The #PinknotGreen was used as a way to promote the idea of boycotting topshop because of these accusations and previous sexist scandals involving the owner of the brand, it also saw staff members threatening to quit, not wanting to work for such type of man.