The first ethical problem with the increased use of social media in the fashion industry is that it is taking away talent from the professionals within the industry. Brands are opting for using big personalities with large social media followings instead of trained models, photographers, and marketers. One big fashion name that recently did this was Allure who “pushed out its founding editor of 24 years in 2015 and the position was handed to a younger, digitally-accustomed editor and more space was created for writers with greater online experience” (Fateh). While it is not inherently wrong to hire young, technologically advanced employees, it is wrong to be completely pushing seasoned professionals out of their jobs just so that the company can have a bigger social media following. Burberry even went to say that “they hired David Beckham’s now 17-year-old son to photograph their latest campaign not because he was some boy genius but because of his close to 6 million followers on Instagram” (Fateh). The fashion industry was created as a way for artists to express themselves through clothing. Today brands care more about the numbers than the content itself, taking away the artistic value of the industry. Brands are doing this because “companies with higher levels of engagement on Instagram are tending to grow their online sales faster than their less clued-up rivals, turning the traditional fashion hierarchy on its head” (Hope). This is problematic because the industry, rather that adapting to the changing marketing, is entirely starting fresh, thus putting many people out of work. The industry is altering to be entirely social media based without taking note of marketing strategies that are currently successful. With that being said, the alternate argument is that the fashion industry “is a dynamic business. People interested in the business must be able to reinvent themselves all the time” (Gerber). While this is true of the fashion industry, it is still wrong to completely re-do the industry and get ride of experience employees rather than making incremental alterations.
