Boycott on Ivanka Trump's clothing line leaves a mark
As a result of the election internet searches for Ivanka Trump's clothing label jumped 338 percent between April 2016 and October 2016, Fast Company reports. But curiously, they've dipped down the last few weeks, corresponding with a Twitter-led boycott targeting the line and the retailers who carry it.
"We certainly see in the data, in the last week or two, very much timed with the boycott, the decline in interest, but hard to say whether that's just a temporary blip," CMO Angela Song of shopping-benefits company ShopRunner, who provided data to Fast Company regarding 20,000 searches for Ivanka's label across six stores, including Lord & Taylor and Neiman Marcus.
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The boycott, started by Bay area brand strategist Shannon Coulter, took off on October 11 when she created the hashtag #grabyourwallet as a response to the release of Access Hollywood audio tapes of Donald Trump's offensive remarks about women, and daughter Ivanka's continued support of her father's presidential campaign in spite of those remarks.
"If Ivanka Trump had distanced herself from the campaign I would not be boycotting her," Coulter told the Guardian of her protest. "But something changed for me when that tape was released." Consumers agreed, and the hashtag began spreading, alongside calls directly to retailers to stop carrying her brand, which earned over $100 million in revenue last year.
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Ivanka addressed the boycott on Good Morning America last week, essentially saying there was nothing she could do about it, but that she prefers to "talk to the millions, tens of millions of American women who are inspired by the brand and the message that I've created."
Certainly, those women exist. ShopRunner data found that as the election has gone on, more folks have eyed Ivanka's items online, with bumps in traffic for specific Ivanka appearances. Her introduction of Donald at the Republican National Convention increased interest in the dress by 19 times in a night. A dress she wore for a July Good Morning America segment bumped up searches by six.
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Fast Company via ShopRunner
Part of that could be simply the visibility the campaign has brought to Ivanka in general, though. "Clearly with her being in the news, what we see in the data, that's really helped with the overall awareness of her fashion brand and interest in it," Song told Fast Company.
Whether this translates into actual sales or not is another question, though Song says browsing typically does translate into purchases eventually. And then there's the possibility that Trump supporters might lean into buying more of her line as a measure against the boycott.
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Either way, it's unclear if the blip is just a blip or a victory for boycotters, but like so many issues in this election, that's likely a matter of which side you're on.
The post Boycott On Ivanka Trump's Clothing Line Leaves A Mark appeared first on Vocativ.
