Ok, this story might not be your bag (bad pun intended) but I think it’s an interesting one. Have you ever heard of Anya Hindmarch? I hadn’t. Now I’m not the most fashionable girl around, but I do try to keep up with style gestalt — at least from a bystander point of view. It turns out that Anya is a high-end handbag designer — one of the ones that designs the “it” bag of the moment (priced between $1000 and $10,000) carried by every (female) celeb on the planet. Anya is royalty in the world of fashion accessories. She has twice been awarded by Glamour for her prowess and designs the British Airways’ First Class Amenity kit. In the world of handbags, Anya is a power hitter.

Being a power hitter comes with a lot of influence, and opportunity. In 2005 Anya and her team joined forces with an organization called We Are What We Do to make it “fashionable NOT to use plastic bags”. They designed the “I’m Not a Plastic Bag” bag and sold out 20,000 units (at $10US) in less than 2 hours on the day it was introduced at Sainsbury’s (a grocery chain) in 450 UK outlets.

On June 20th in New York City, women waited in line for hours in the rain to be the first to pony up $15 for the US version — which sold out in 3 hours!

So what’s the deal? Simply put, Anya Hindmarch has decided to use her celebrity status to help influence the paper versus plastic debate (see my post on the topic) by replacing paper and plastic with a reusable cotton tote. Now this is no revolution in the world of grocery bagging. I own canvas grocery bags from Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and my local Shaw’s Market (they cost $1 each). But in carrying my bags I’m not really effecting anyone or anything. With her bag loudly claiming “I’m Not a Plastic Bag,” Hindmarch hopes that she is using her fashion influence to change behavior.

Of course, as with any first mover in a category, Hindmarch is being skewered by sustainability fundamentalists (my term) who claim that the bag was made in China by mistreated workers and then shipped halfway across the world raising questions about whether its carbon footprint is threatening to offset its environmental benefits. Hindmarch’s organization claims that the Chinese manufacturer has been vetted and is monitored (they pay workers double the minimum wage) but ultimately said “We never claimed this bag is perfect. We have just tried to use our influence as a maker of luxury goods to make it fashionable not to use plastic bags.”

So who is in the right here? And is Anya’s “Not a Plastic Bag” bag on target? Missing the boat? Great PR? Making a difference? Unethical? Something completely different? And ultimately, if (the expected) 100,000 women are carrying the “Not a Plastic Bag” bag to the gym or the grocery, isn’t that going to raise awareness and perhaps effect change?

This issue is part of a broader topic called Corporate Social Responsibility and a lot of corporations are currently grappling with how to do CSR right. I’m intrigued by the topic — especially the lines between opportunistic, strategic and integrated CSR policies (you can read more about it in a paper I co-wrote on the topic). I’m particularly curious about the very-fine-very-blurred line that separates “social marketing” from really effective PR.

For example, Aldo Shoes markets its products in conjunction with the “Aldo Fights AIDS” campaign, while Kenneth Cole claims that “Being aware is more important than what you wear”, but as far as I can tell, neither does much “operationalized” or “integrated” sustainability in terms of the how, where and who of their production. Does this mean that these two firms are simply using social issues to boost sales? Or are they really committed to effecting change? Timberland, the outdoor gear maker, on the other hand, is at the forefront of the sustainable production movement, leading efforts in labor relations, environmental issues and national and community service.

And then there’s Anya Hindmarch, who is actually producing a product that is meant to be both medium AND message (they claim the bags bring no profit). On the heels of my “Better Labels, Better Choices” post, I’m curious how all of you react to the social responsibility being injected into the advertising and marketing of our products. How are you effected? Are your buying decisions influenced by ad campaigns? Social causes? Charitable giving? Sustainable production practices? Please let me know.