It’s not easy being green : En kvalitativ studie om Na-Kd Circles CSR-Kommunikation

Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR has, in step with societal development and awareness, driven companies to take several aspects into account. Issues relating to climate, sustainability, social and financial issues are some of the meanings of social responsibility and to which companies are taking into account. The knowledge about the textile industry has broadened throughout society which has led to a certain awareness about what we buy. This makes CSR communication important. Recently, several companies in the fashion industry have chosen to introduce various recycling programs of clothing in an attempt to reduce its climate footprint and position themselves as more sustainable in the market. One example is the fast-fashion company NA-KD and their sustainable initiative NA-KD Circle. Previous research has demonstrated how the inclusion of CSR can be important for the brand's credibility and loyalty. Based on methods that have been linked to the theoretical framework studied, the study has applied rhetorical and semiotic analysis as well as Kim and Ferguson’s six dimensions of effective CSR. In addition to these, Stuart Hall's model of encoding and decoding has also been used to illuminate the reception of the respondents. With the help of semi-structured interviews, the study's second and third questions have been attempted to be answered. These have touched on the topics of whether NA-KD Circle can be perceived as effective CSR and how this affects young women's attitude towards NA-KD as a brand. The interviews were further analyzed with qualitative content analysis where two themes were identified. The women's attitude and influence towards NA-KD as a brand resulted in its image being more skeptical than unchanged. It can also be read that the recipients did not decode the material of NA-KD Circle in the way that the sender was striving for. The recipients partly received the message but applied their personal perspectives and interpretations to the material