The British daily The Independent is echoing, today, criticism received online by the Swedish fashion giant H&M, following the appointment, two days ago, of the English actress Maisie Williams as its Global Sustainability Ambassador.

By Ludmilla Intravaia

"Bit disappointing. H&M is a massive greenwasher”, “Maisie Williams partnering with H&M has broke my heart a little (…) I thought she was more badass than greenwashing”, “We don't need paid celebrities ‘sustainability ambassadors’, we need sustainability experts who know what they are talking about”… The Independent highlights, today (see here), negative comments posted online, on Twitter in particular, in reaction to the appointment by H&M, two days ago, of Maisie Williams, as its new Global Sustainability Ambassador.

The English actress Maisie Williams, new Global Sustainability Ambassador for H&M, since April 12, 2021 (©H&M)

If the Internet users are rising up their voices on the web, it is because they are accusing the Swedish fashion giant and the English actress of greenwashing, a deceptive marketing practice used by some companies to convey a misleading image of ecological responsibility and to persuade the public that they are environment friendly.

Screenshot of a tweet reacting on April 12, 2021 to the appointment of Maisie Williams as H&M's Global Sustainability Ambassador (© Twitter) - Screenshot taken on April 14, 2021.

On April 12, images of an avatar of the 23-year-old actress were, in fact, revealed in an H&M press release (see here) which introduces it as her "digital twin, Avatar Maisie". According to the document, “Avatar Maisie and real-life Maisie will make several appearances throughout the year, engaging with H&M customers and inspiring action, sometimes together, other times on their own." (images below : H&M).

The avatar of the actress who lent her features to Arya Stark in the Game of Thrones series was created by the 3D animators of the visual effects (VFX) Studio Goodbye Kansas, to whom we owe for instance the digital Keanu Reeves of the video game Cyberpunk 2077. "Full-body scans of Maisie were used to highlight all the different muscles moving in her face and every strand of hair", the Goodbye Kansas press release says (see here), adding : "From there, Maisie joined the team working on her image – picking her hair colour, scaling up and down on the makeup applied to her face and going back and forth on the colouring. Even her fashion received a virtual tweak as it was a computer-generated outfit of Maisie’s from her own wardrobe."

Maisie Williams H&M Boudoir Numérique7.gif

Avatar Maisie's first appearance was for the launch of H&M Looop Island yesterday in Nintendo's video game Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Players can visit this place dedicated to sustainable fashion until April 20 and have their virtual clothes recycled into exclusive H&M outfits in the Looop machine, currently installed, In Real Life, in a store of the brand in Stockholm (more info in this Boudoir Numérique article).

Visit Looop Island in the video below.

Faced with criticism, H&M reacted in the columns of the British daily: "Our sustainability work has never been about ‘greenwashing’ – this categorically goes against what we stand for ( …) Globally, we have over 250 people working solely in sustainability roles across all aspects of our business, ensuring that sustainability is always our top priority.” Check out the H&M campaign video with Maisie Williams below.