Social Movements, Identity Stereotypes and Gender : How Did #MeToo Affect Footwear Consumption?

Although we know that social movements affect beliefs and public policies, it is not clear how they impact consumption. To address this question, we examine whether and how #MeToo — a preeminent global social movement raising awareness of sexual abuse and harassment against women — affected the consumption of products displaying traditional markers of femininity in the footwear market. To do so, we analyzed unique and comprehensive high-frequency product-level stockout data from a leading global fashion retailer spanning 5.2 million observations from January 2017 to December 2018 in 32 OECD countries (covering 89% of the population of OECD members). Using a triple-difference strategy over time, across countries, and between product attributes, we document a change in product-level stockouts consistent with dissociation from gender stereotypes along two major design dimensions: colors (pink or red vs. black or blue shoes) and form (slim vs. bulky shapes; heel height emphasizing silhouette and gait). Consistent with a demand-side effect, we find no evidence of short-term changes in product assortments in reaction to #MeToo. Local heightened sensitivity of product stockouts to online searches around sexual harassment is consistent with the documented effect. We discuss the results' implications for firms' communication strategies as they relate to customer identity, as well as for our understanding of the role of social movements in shaping consumer market dynamics