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Switching half our clothes in each of our wardrobes to pre-loved could prevent carbon emissions equivalent to those produced by 261,000 flights from London to Greece, Oxfam have suggested. So what is the allure of buying brand new clothes, when we know it’s worse for the environment? Well, there’s a reason we refer to shopping as ‘retail therapy’. Whether it’s a going-out top grabbed on your lunch break or a designer bag you’ve had your eye on for months, fashion acquisitions in particular have the power to lift your mood, thanks to the chemical dopamine. “Dopamine is known as the reward agent,” said cognitive psychologist and business consultant Dr Carolyn Mair, author of The Psychology of Fashion. “We produce more dopamine when we’re on the hunt for something that’s going to give us a positive outcome or make the situation we’re in at the moment more easy to bear. “It can become an addiction, certainly, because the same neurotransmitters and same behaviours are involved.” And buying an on-trend outfit provides more of a thrill than loading up a supermarket trolley because it satisfies our desire to fit in. “It’s a fundamental psychological drive that we want to belong to communities – part of the way we do that is through the way we dress,” said Mair – who is working with Oxfam for the launch of its Second Hand September campaign – but it’s a double-edged sword. “Fashion can do wonders for us in terms of highlighting or concealing parts of our bodies that we love or don’t love so much,” Mair continued. “But it can also be quite damaging when we feel that we have to join in with other people’s ideas about what’s fashionable.” Peer pressure can have a powerful effect, as can the boredom. “We get bored with what we’ve got, and we’re also very much influenced by fashion trends, celebrities, social media and so on,” said Mair. “There’s quite often a temptation to join in with those trends and be part of that… It can be quite difficult for people to resist that.” Even, that is, when we know that the fashion industry is hugely detrimental to the enviroment in terms of carbon emissions and unwanted garments going to landfill. “I think the huge majority of people already know [the environmental impact],” said Mair, and yet fast fashion brands continue to churn out millions of items a year and consumers lap them up. Instead of telling people to quit clothes shopping altogether, she said to ask ourselves: “How can we get the pleasure from fashion by not buying brand new, but by buying something else?” That’s why she encourages fashion fans to make more sustainable choices, starting with ‘shopping your wardrobe’. “You can make something you’ve already got feel new by upcycling it or changing it a little bit, if you’re creative. We can swap with friends, because then it’s ‘new to me’.” Hunting on sites like Vinted, eBay or Depop is a great way of “finding treasures so that’s giving us the dopamine hit and we’re saving money”, she added. If the proceeds are going to a good cause you’ll get an extra altruistic boost as welll. “We know from positive psychology that one of the best ways to feel good about ourselves is to do good for someone else,” said Mair. “Whenever we buy secondhand from a charity shop we know that our money is going towards doing good.” She’s also a big fan of rental sites like HURR Collective, Hire Street and By Rotation that offer premium pieces to hire for a fraction of their retail price. “Rental sites are great, particularly for special occasions when we think ‘I need to buy something new,’ because that’s the social norm,” she said. “Rental is a great way to keep an item of clothing in use for longer so it’s worn by more people and looked after.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live How can I improve my teenager’s low mood? Drinking alcohol does not make people look more attractive, study suggests Maya Jama and Stormzy: Can you make it work with an ex?

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Jake Paul is arguably one of the most well-known influencers in the world right now, but unfortunately for gambling firm Ladbrokes, the YouTuber-turned-boxer’s widespread appeal has landed them in a bit of trouble with the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The independent advertising watchdog, which regulates the advertising industry, enforces rules drawn up by the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP), which has some pretty strict rules when it comes to gambling ads. In addition to requiring said adverts to be “socially responsible” and “protect children … from being harmed or exploited”, the CAP’s code states marketing communications must not be “likely to be of strong appeal to children or young persons, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture”. “They must not include a person or character whose example is likely to be followed by those aged under 18 years or who has a strong appeal to those aged under 18,” it reads. After Ladbrokes shared a promoted tweet in February featuring Paul – following his defeat to Tommy Fury – in which Twitter users were encouraged to vote on “what’s next for Jake Paul”, a single complaint was made to the ASA as to whether it may be in breach of the Code. Responding to the ASA’s enquiries, the betting company noted the advert contained no calls to action, promotions or links back to its website – and was “age-gated” so only users who had confirmed their age as being over 18 could see it. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The ad was specifically targeted at users aged 25 and over, receiving close to 16,500 impressions with just over 47 per cent of these being from individuals aged between 20 and 29 years. Ladbrokes also cited demographics for Paul’s following across several social media platforms, showing that the percentage of users aged between 13 and 17 years old was below 20 per cent on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. On Twitter, zero per cent of his followers were reportedly registered as being under 18. The company also directed ASA to the watchdog’s own guidance on “protecting under-18s” from advertising about gambling and lotteries, in which it states “sports like … boxing … are more adult-oriented and unlikely to be of inherent ‘strong’ appeal” to children and young people. Zing. However, in a decision which saw the regulator uphold the complaint against Ladbrokes, the ASA ruled there was still a responsibility to comply with the rule about not appealing to under-18s because the advert “appeared in a medium where under-18s could not be entirely excluded from the audience”. It continued: “CAP guidance stated that sportspeople involved in clearly adult-oriented sports who were ‘notable’ stars with significant social media and general profiles which made them well-known to under-18s were considered moderate risk in terms of how likely they were to be of strong appeal to under-18s. “We also considered that Jake Paul would primarily be known for making YouTube videos and that he had a large social media following. We acknowledged that he had within the last few years turned to boxing. “However, because of his career on YouTube, we considered that he had a high profile within the sport and was well known outside of the sport and social media.” Although they noted Paul had no followers aged under 18 on Twitter, where the ad was located, the ASA concluded the content creator was still of “inherent strong appeal” to under-18s because “such large numbers” of his followers were in that demographic. They also mentioned Paul’s appearance on the Disney Channel series Bizaardvark between 2016 and 2018 about two teenagers, with the target audience for the show likely to be “around the same age”. As such, they found Paul still had a “strong appeal” to under-18s and that Ladbroke’s advert was “irresponsible”. Not the first time Paul and “irresponsible” have appeared in the same sentence, to be honest… Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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