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WHAT IS GREENWASHING?

Have you ever heard of greenwashing? It’s the practice of using misleading green marketing techniques to make consumers think a product or service is eco-friendly, when it really isn’t. It’s an issue that plagues the environmentally conscious because it takes away from the credibility of good companies and products and discourages consumers from purchasing products with real green attributes. Read on to find out about some of the worst cases of greenwashing, so you can be more aware of this misleading trend in marketing, and steer clear of products that aren’t as eco-friendly as they may seem.


BP

BP had to pay billions in damages and fines after their oil-rig explosion killed 11 workers, devastated the Gulf of Mexico region, and made a mockery out of their Beyond Petroleum marketing campaign. Ever since, they’ve been doubling down on their greenwashed advertisements, which include ads for solar power and electric cars.


Primark

Over at Greenpeace, they’ve identified five of Primark’s promotional websites that are duping customers by packaging its environmental efforts as a central part of its brand image. In reality, Primark’s sustainability initiatives are small steps towards a larger goal and there is little evidence to suggest any serious commitment to environmental issues.


Nestlé

Nestlé went on record to say that they had "ambitions"that their plastic packaing will be 100% recyclable or reusable by 2025 yet showed no action towards this. Greenpeace said reacted to this statement saying: “Nestlé’s statement on plastic packaging includes more of the same greenwashing baby steps to tackle a crisis it helped to create. It will not actually move the needle toward the reduction of single-use plastics in a meaningful way, and sets an incredibly low standard as the largest food and beverage company in the world.” Break Free From Plastic 2020 reported that Nestlé was one of the world’s top plastic polluters for the third year running.


Starbucks

Starbucks’ efforts to be environmentally friendly are often cited as a prime example of greenwashing. In 2004, Starbucks began selling fair trade coffee and prominently displaying that information in their stores. However according to research, Starbucks Coffee isn’t organic—and it has a long way to go before it can be considered truly fair trade.


H&M

The Swedish clothing retailer H&M’s 2013 campaign Close The Loop was widely perceived as a means of greenwashing—or rather, brown- and grey-washing. H&M claims that it has been trying to move away from conventional cotton products, but in reality just one percent of its products use organic cotton.


RyanAir

In an effort to attract more customers, RyanAir launched an ad campaign that attempted to paint a picture of itself as being environmentally conscious. They achieved this by making vague claims like we fly responsibly and posting ads on social media featuring images of wind turbines and people hiking through a forest.





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