The SNL comedy sketch, which is designed to look like a clothing commercial opens with a voiceover announcing “fast fashion from China. Buy online now!” Trendy clothing pieces then flash across the screen with price tags such as $10 for a dress $5 for a pair of shoes. The voiceover then makes statements such as the brand’s products are “not made with forced labour”, Just Style reported.
GlobalData retail analyst Neil Saunders tells Just Style the recent SNL comedy sketch is a criticism of consumers who buy fast fashion mindlessly without thinking about how the products are so cheap as much as it is about the alleged supply chain issues” of ultra-fast fashion giants such as Shein and Temu.
The skit is based on a fake fast fashion brand called Xiemu, however National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) president and CEO Kim Glas believes the parody “illuminates the breadth of problems related to certain Chinese e-commerce companies that have been linked to forced labour in their supply chains.”
One character in the commercial speaks of a “gasoline” smell coming from an item of clothing and in another Hollywood actor Jake Gyllenhaal has a nosebleed after sniffing his lead-free shirt. Glas suggests this highlights the ramification of consumers “unknowingly purchasing toxic products or products made with slave labour”.
While Saunders points to the way it highlights consumers ignoring the way products are made adding: “People do not change habits if buying cheaper fashion benefits them financially.”