Greenwashing is a prevalent problem in today’s world, as marketing hype combined with a lack of industry regulation is used to engage + exploit consumer’s growing interest in caring for nature and ‘green’ ethics. There are, however, businesses of all shapes and sizes that are doing truly good work in reducing their carbon footprint and caring for the environment.
These businesses, along with you, the consumer, are the ones that ultimately fall victim to corporate greenwashing. Creating false and misleading information is easy for large corporations thanks to their endless marketing budgets. This means they can appeal to the ‘entry-level’ or ‘lazy’ green consumers and push their not-so eco-friendly products.
In this article, you’ll learn:
What is greenwashing and how to identify it
The difference between greenwashing and green marketing
The most blatant examples of greenwashing products and companies
According to Pack Help, “Greenwashing is a deceptive form of marketing that claims a company’s products, policies, and goals are environmentally friendly and therefore do less damage to nature, with an underlying purpose to increase profits”.
Evidence of corporate greenwashing can be seen when large companies launch eco-friendly marketing ‘campaigns’. Upon closer inspection, you can regularly see that the business has spent more on the marketing campaign than on the environmentally sound practices themselves.
A popular example of greenwashing is H&M: they have been trying to position itself as a brand that cares about the environment. It has done so with its Conscious Collection, a line of clothing within the brand, made of sustainably sourced materials. In these bins, customers can drop off their old clothes and get a coupon that they can redeem. What H&M is doing is greenwashing to distance itself from its role in damaging the environment; H&M is a fast fashion brand and fast-fashion products are unsustainable. H&M’s marketing makes it seem as though the company is more environmentally friendly than it is. An example of this is their clothes recycling bins. H&M makes it sound like the clothes dropped off into their recycling bins are made into new garments.
So, to understand whether it is acceptable for H&M to continue to market itself as an environmentally-responsible company, there are two questions we must consider:
Are a few collections that use recycled materials or sustainably sourced materials enough to market a company as heading towards sustainability?
Is obscuring the ugly truth to greenwash a company in the pursuit of an environmentally conscious image ethical?
Despite calls for making fashion more sustainable and companies like H&M, Zara, and Nike publicly supporting the idea, there hasn’t been any significant change in the industry. If all fast-fashion companies did what H&M is doing, which arguably many of the big companies are, the damage caused to the environment will increase, as will the risk of exposure for these companies. Even after the damage, fast fashion has caused, and that H&M has contributed to the damage, H&M makes no mention of it. Indeed, they are not responsible for taking care of the planet. Nor is the brand responsible for stating all how its practices harm the environment. Stating what it is doing to be more environmentally responsible by procuring sustainable cotton and by reducing waste is admirable. What is wrong is that H&M shouldn’t make itself look greener than it is — in any way.
Greenwashing also has ripple effects on consumer behavior. In a knee-jerk reaction to avoid blatantly greenwashed products, consumers may actively search for ‘eco-friendly’ products. This often leads to finding a product that’s not greenwashed, but not the best alternative, either. It’s at this point where honest marketing needs to be prevalent.
How to tell a company is greenwashing:
It’s reactive, rather than proactive. Businesses that implement environmentalism because of customer reactions, do so to please the customers and grow their profits, rather than help the environment.
Green, nature-esque graphics. Throw a small green plant into the picture and you’re eco-friendly. The over-use of happy flowers, green seedlings, rolling mountains, animals, and the sun is a distraction from what’s happening.
It’s a laser-focused idea. McDonald’s may use recycled paper in their bags, but they are one of the biggest enablers of factory farming, an industry that has mind-blowing methane emissions. Take a look at the bigger picture.
Dramatic wording. If the copy and words used in the brand’s communication lack substantial information, there’s probably a reason - there’s no substance! See below for a list of words that carry no value.
It’s hard to double-check. It always pays to do your research. If a company’s marketing claims can’t be backed up with specific details, or the statements seem vague, unspecific, and unclear, it’s probably garbage.
It’s a ‘thing’. A one-of marketing campaign is exactly that. Quality brands have genuine conservationism built into their DNA.
Here are some words and phrases to look out for:
Natural - Cyanide, arsenic, and asbestos are natural - trace amounts will kill you.
Organic - A buzz word that means nothing unless it’s certified organic.
Eco-friendly - Being friendly to the environment? This statement carries no weight.
Eco & Bio - 'Eco' and 'Bio' ranges of products are just a name, double-check that they're better for the environment.
Green - Going or being green is another hype word that lacks substance.
Sustainable - This wood has a strained relationship with regards to environmental conservation.
x% biodegradable - A product is either completely biodegradable within a human lifetime or it is not. Anything else is hype.
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