Luxury brands are giving us a brand-new taste for fashion marketing. Seemingly, every big brand campaign lately displays (or consumes) decadent food — whether it’s relevant to the product or not.
Could this be a nod to rising food costs, or is it just a marketing trend? Let’s dig in.
In June 2023, Vogue Business writer Lucy Maguire published an article asserting that “To Gen Z, food is the new luxury.” A great example she put forth is the influencer obsession with Los Angeles’ “upscale supermarket,” Erewhon. Many brands took the hint and started to incorporate food into their marketing campaigns — from Erewhon collaborations to elaborate influencer dinners.
Maguire theorizes this shift in values was partly due to the lifestyle changes brought on by the height of the pandemic. At the time, young people purchased considerably fewer luxury goods, but unsurprisingly, they were still eating. Food began consuming a lot more space in our minds.
Why Buy Fashion if You Can’t Buy Food?
In light of inflation and ever-increasing food prices, young people are struggling more than ever to get food on their plates. University students know this better than anyone.
When purchasing groceries this week, my singular tote bag of food (that, mind you, wasn’t even filled to the brim) cost $94. It’s easy to understand how we’ve started to view something as simple as buying cheese as a treat.
If we’re splurging on food, how are high-end brands supposed to manage? The simple answer is that marketers have made food itself a luxury status symbol.
Food as Luxury Marketing
Food has become increasingly prevalent in the fashion industry’s recent marketing campaigns (to the point that it can’t be a coincidence). Where big-name influencers and celebrities typically promote high-end fashion and beauty brands like Dior, Chanel, or Prada, they’ve shifted to a new category: luxury food.
Let’s dive into two notable examples I’ve seen recently.
Sabrina Carpenter is the queen of food partnerships. In the past year, she’s done campaigns with Erewhon Smoothies, Blank Street Coffee, Alfred Coffee, Third Wave Coffee (noticing a pattern here?), and Van Leeuwen Ice Cream.
A star of her grandeur would typically turn to luxury beauty and apparel brands for a tour campaign of this size, but it seems Miss Short n’ Sweet has different tastes. I’ll admit, she is a genius for the play on words, but you have to wonder why these partnerships have been so successful compared to other celebrity collaborations lately.
Emma Chamberlain has had a variety of big brand partnerships lately. She, of course, like many major American influencers, has a custom smoothie with Erewhon in collaboration with her coffee brand, Chamberlain Coffee.
One collaboration that stood out to me was her recent post for Lancôme. Emma is pictured holding two Lancôme lip products while simultaneously taking a huge bite out of an ice cream cone. At first glance, I thought it looked delicious. On second thought, however, I wondered: what does Lancôme have to do with ice cream?
What does this mean for us?
I challenge you to pull up your favourite influencer or celebrity’s Instagram account and take a good look. It might not always be as blatant as partnering with a food brand, but I bet you there’s at least one post of them stylistically posing with a (admittedly delicious-looking) snack.
As delicious as the deals might look, make sure you’re paying attention to what’s really being marketed to you. Is it actually that product, or is it the disposable income that would allow you to buy and consume anything your heart desires?