When it comes to marketing circular luxury products, buzzwords like “recycled,” “sustainable,” and “eco-friendly” might be doing more harm than good.
That’s the key takeaway from new research by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), which found that consumers are more engaged when brands use progress-focused language instead.
The study – led by PhD researcher Emma Joenpolvi from QUT’s School of Advertising, Marketing, and Public Relations – analysed almost 1 million product listings on the second-hand luxury fashion platform Vestiaire Collective and Facebook posts from luxury car brands.
Researchers compared how consumers responded – through likes, shares, and overall engagement – to product descriptions that highlighted sustainability versus those that didn’t.
You’ll be surprised by the results.
“We found that posts with descriptions using typical sustainable product language actually decreased consumer engagement compared with other products,” Joenpolvi explained.
Meanwhile, listings on Vestiaire Collective that didn’t mention sustainability at all often received between 492 and 853 likes.
At the same time, when the same kinds of posts explicitly mentioned words like “recycled,” engagement plummeted – sometimes dropping to zero likes.
However, engagement levels soared when brands shifted their language to focus on action and progress.
Words like “make,” “dynamic,” “get,” “fast,” and “launch” generated significantly more interest than traditional sustainability buzzwords.
“For example, products framed as part of an exciting process of moving forward – using words like ‘flow’ or ‘change’ – resonated much more with consumers,” Joenpolvi said.
The same trend held true for luxury cars.
Posts that highlighted “sustainable materials” or claimed to fight “plastic pollution” struggled to attract attention, sometimes reaching just 6 per cent of the average shares for that brand.
However, when those sustainability claims were wrapped in language emphasising innovation and momentum, engagement levels improved dramatically.
“In summary, getting the language right for marketing circular luxury products cannot be underestimated,” Joenpolvi concluded.
“Luxury brands are uniquely positioned to lead the shift toward circular business models, but how they communicate that message makes all the difference.”
