Lesson Thirty-Three: Greenwashing
As someone who works in advertising, I’ve seen a lot of questionable claims from brands - but nothing grinds my gears like brands who say their products are good for the planet when they’re not.
Today we’re going to talk about greenwashing and how it’s changed consumer perception of what's “eco-friendly”. But first, let’s start with a definition:
Greenwashing
noun. [U] /ˈɡriːn.wɑː.ʃɪŋ/
When a brand promotes a false claim to convince consumers that their products are harmless for the planet.
If you ask me though, greenwashing exists because brands know you’re thinking about the planet and they exploit that concern because they want you to buy from them.
Greenwashing comes in many forms, but there are a few clues you can see in messaging (on products, in commercials, ect) that should propel you to look into things more. Below is a list of terms that are very common in. greenwashing techniques.
Botanical
Chemical-free
Earth-friendly
Extracts
Gentle
Green
Herbal
Mineral
Natural
Organic
Paraben-free
Plant-based
Plant-derived
Pure
Raw
Sensitive
Sulfate-free
In 2008, the Competition Bureau of Canada — an independent law enforcement agency — published guidelines for environmental claims in advertisements. The guide asks that advertisers avoid vague or misleading language, and they must include verifiable and specific information as well as providing relevant context in their claims.
According to the Bureau, it would be misleading to claim a product is ‘all-natural’, especially since the concept of what is and what isn’t natural is up to the company. In Canada, such claims are not regulated by Health Canada.
Let’s look at a few examples shall we?
H&M
A men’s “conscious-sustainable” long sleeve shirt from H&M is made of “100% organic cotton.” Seems pretty honest, right? It makes sense that 100% cotton can be sustainable. Right?
Wrong.
How can something that, on average, takes 20,000 L of water to produce be sustainable? It also is still manufactured in China and needs to be shipped all the way over here.
Tide purclean
Tide purclean says it’s “a powerful, plant-based clean you can feel good about.”
In reality, 75% of the product is plant-based and the remaining 25% consists of non-plant-based ingredients, including some derived from petroleum.
On a bright note, people fought the misleading claims and in August 2020, the National Advertising Division told Tide to modify its messages that say the laundry detergent is “100% plant-based” or that the “powerful cleaning power is derived solely from plant-based ingredients”.
Tide is complying.
Fiji Water
Fiji Water released an ad series called “Nature’s Gift” which use nature-inspired imagery and earthy language to say that this water is our reward from the planet for “not touching” the natural water source …
More like trying to distract from the fact that their plastic bottles take 450 years to break down. 🙄
So, what can you do?
Great question.
THINK CRITICALLY
Company love to be sneaky, sneaky. What we should be critical of is that greenwashed brands will provide you with a laundry list of what their intentions are, but NO concrete game plan outlining how they intend to achieve such outcomes. Most don’t do their due diligence to ensure their entire production and business model aligns to such claims.
LOOK AT LABELS, NOT PACKAGING
There are a lot of companies which grossly overstate the environmental or ethical benefits of their products and services. As a consumer, you can’t rely on the vivid green images of plants on products to determine if it’s good for the planet.
If something is supposed to be “natural”, then the ingredients should be easy to understand and/or the company should have no problem being transparent.
____________________________
Not all brands are bad, but we need to get better at smelling bs from the ones that are.
If you have any questions about the lesson or topic, let me know! I LOVE hearing from you! 💚
