Once in a blue moon, I remember that the show Love Island exists: the highly addictive, 60-some-odd episode/per season long UK-based summer reality TV show. I usually get around to it much later than the masses do. During my recent binge of the 2023 season, I noticed something particularly unique: product placement by none other than multinational e-commerce company, eBay.
‘Strange’, I thought. For me, eBay has long been reserved as a site my parents like to visit when they are in pursuit of finding a certain vintage vinyl record, or if they have a stray appliance to sell.
This wasn’t the first time I’d noticed not-so-subtle product placement on Love Island, but it stood out to me because it felt like a while since a clothing line had been emphasized, aside from a partnership with UK fast fashion brand “I Saw it First”, making it even more of a departure from past advertising habits.
More recently, I started to notice eBay’s presence in other, more high-profile settings, & you may have as well–most notably, at this year’s Met Gala.
Several celebrities lining the Met steps on May 6 flashed eBay-sponsored jewels & accessories in interviews, wagging their fingers at the camera & crediting the tech giant for their pre-loved sparkles.
Naturally, the sudden herd mentality to shop at eBay for the most prestigious fashion event of the year was no coincidence. eBay was one of two sponsors for fashion’s biggest night out, in tandem with Porsche.
The promos didn’t stop there. If you streamed Vogue’s Met Gala livestream, surely you noticed the Vogue x eBay ads featuring Madelyn Cline & Ice Spice that were peppered in during breaks.
I wasn’t the only one puzzled by this sudden eBay attention. The Philadelphia Inquirer
referenced several tweets from Met Gala streamers in a recent article about the peculiar collab. One user wrote, “Tonight’s #MetGala was purchased on eBay.”
Over on Instagram, a user wrote “wait i love this! normalize upcycled and vintage looks!” on a collaborated post of Met carpet host LaLa Anthony by @voguemagazine and @ebay.
So, when exactly did eBay start taking itself seriously as a platform for high fashion?
According to the Little Black Book, eBay took note that “70% of the [UK] nation wears only half or less of their clothes daily, with just 25% selling their unwanted items.” Thus, a campaign was born, along with the catchphrase “Turn Your Nothing into Something You Love.”
Rooted in the effort to encourage consumers to become sellers as well, eBay’s Marketing Director Nazia Du Bois outlined the campaign. “It perfectly lands our belief that people should fill their lives with more of the things that they love whilst also fueling the circular fashion economy by driving seller supply & buyer demand through a single effective messaging strategy.”
It seems as though the messaging is being packaged well, too. Iconic French fashion
photographer Lou Escobar is directing the campaign, which will run OOH (Out of Home), digital, radio, & TVC (television commercial) until late June of this year, as told by Mobile Marketing Magazine.
I, for one, was impressed to see eBay making room for itself at the high-profile table. Could this be a step in the right direction for sustainability in fashion? Will this position eBay as a mainstay in the fashion game for years to come? Only time will tell.
– Marley Gifford – www.marleygifford.com
Image courtesy of @mimicuttrell on Instagram
