The Narrative Policy Framework and the Greenwashing of H&M's Conscious Collection: A Comparative Analysis of Media Discourse in the Global South and the Global North

Keyshia Alma Raharjo, Dr. Indri Dwi Apriliyanti

2025 | Skripsi | ILMU ADMINISTRASI NEGARA (MANAJEMEN DAN KEBIJAKAN PUBLIK)

Discourse on sustainability, particularly regarding the circular economy, frequently neglects the underlying power disparities and neocolonial legacies that shape global narratives. This study addresses a critical gap by employing the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) to conduct a comparative content analysis of how mass media in the Global North and Global South framed H&M’s Conscious Collection. The findings reveal a profound divergence: media in the Global North framed sustainability primarily as a technical and managerial challenge, deploying a performative critique that reinforced the status quo while structurally silencing garment workers through epistemic injustice. In contrast, media in the Global South consistently centred structural injustice, highlighting labour precarity, ecological reparations, and legal accountability, thereby exposing the fundamentally socio-economic nature of the problem. This research posits that the seemingly universal concept of sustainability continues to be a contested discourse in mass media. In doing so, the study demonstrates the NPF's instrumental role in systematically deconstructing circularity discourse and underscores the necessity of a more critical, power-conscious approach to corporate accountability.

Discourse on sustainability, particularly regarding the circular economy, frequently neglects the underlying power disparities and neocolonial legacies that shape global narratives. This study addresses a critical gap by employing the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) to conduct a comparative content analysis of how mass media in the Global North and Global South framed H&M’s Conscious Collection. The findings reveal a profound divergence: media in the Global North framed sustainability primarily as a technical and managerial challenge, deploying a performative critique that reinforced the status quo while structurally silencing garment workers through epistemic injustice. In contrast, media in the Global South consistently centred structural injustice, highlighting labour precarity, ecological reparations, and legal accountability, thereby exposing the fundamentally socio-economic nature of the problem. This research posits that the seemingly universal concept of sustainability continues to be a contested discourse in mass media. In doing so, the study demonstrates the NPF's instrumental role in systematically deconstructing circularity discourse and underscores the necessity of a more critical, power-conscious approach to corporate accountability.

Kata Kunci : Narrative Policy Framework (NPF), Greenwashing, Media Narratives, Global North-Global South