Fifty Shades of Greenwashing
What is Greenwashing?
The seductive and sultry world of misleading marketing, “Oh behave!” The term ‘Greenwashing’ was coined by Jay Westerveld when he first saw a “Save the towel movement” sign back in the early 80’s.
We’ve all seen the sign in hotel rooms:
"Save Our Planet: Every day, millions of gallons of water are used to wash towels that have only been used once. You make the choice: A towel on the rack means, 'I will use again.' A towel on the floor means, 'Please replace.' Thank you for helping us conserve the Earth's vital resources."
Westerveld knew that hotels waste resources in many different ways and that reusing towels saves companies a lot of money. Westerveld wrote that if hotels were really concerned about resources, there were many things they could do differently to help the environment. His essay outlined how hotels were ‘greenwashing’ towels for public goodwill.
Greenwashing refers to companies that represent themselves or their products, as environmentally friendly or sustainable, when that simply is not the truth. Typically, a corporation will make claims of being sustainable when they are trying to cover up a questionable environmental record. Corporations will even spend more money trying to cover up the issue than actually fixing the problem.
Companies that greenwash will be vague in their goals, avoid numerical deadlines and continually move the goalposts on their plans to stop doing unethical things. I’m sure we’ve all experienced someone who takes liberties with actual facts #FakeNews. Sometimes, like a bad relationship, we refuse to see the truth. We hear the words, we see the issues, we know it doesn’t feel right, but we hope everything is going to work out. It’s time to keep companies accountable. We have the power to create the change we want to see. We can support ethical companies by voting with our dollars.
Fifty Shades Freed
Greenwashing happens in all industries including the grocery industry. Nestle in particular, is a common greenwasher. They recently freed themselves from their ethical partnership with the Fairtrade Foundation. As a result, roughly 27,000 small-scale producers will have their incomes altered. Because of Nestle breaking off their agreement, communities will lose out on schools, health centres, and improved working and living conditions in impoverished villages. Nestle has also had transparency concerns with their bottled water practices, while trying to describe themselves as earth friendly. Recently, Nestle was suspended from the Palm Oil Sustainability Group after breaching codes of conduct. Nestle, Mars and Hershey have all been accused of moving the goalposts and breaking promises over palm oil while greenwashing insisting they are following the rules.
Taking liberties with common terms is a common form of greenwashing. Sainsbury’s tea brands, for example, ditched the ‘Fairtrade Foundation’ for their own in-house label called “Fairly Traded”. The label was considered misleading to customers. Transparency issues among the big corporations are common pain points in renewable, sustainable and environmental efforts.
Fifty Shades More
In the 60’s, eco-pornography was popular. I’d better explain that a little more clearly! In the early 1960’s, when the “ecology” movement began gathering steam, corporations jumped on the terminology and began advertising themselves as “eco-friendly”. Social critic Jerry Mander (heartbroken to learn he has no relation to gerrymandering) described their efforts as “eco-pornography” (Is it gettin’ hot in here…). Companies were using buzzwords of the day without doing anything to support the environment. Sound familiar?
Corporations have had a long run of dressing down ethical concerns. Their confusing language is meant to leave you spent and exhausted from researching every issue. When there is an opportunity to use confusing jargon, companies are never breathless. It might be hard releasing all that energy finding the sweet spot for company accountability, but it is always worth it in the end.
Companies ethical concerns are rarely black and white. In fact, the bigger companies seem to prefer dealing in the Gray-shaded areas. This is fertile ground for confusion and uncertainty about what is morally acceptable and what is not. Businesses benefit from ethical shading or, as Westerveld suggested, shades of greenwashing.
What’s the Naked Truth?
If you suspect something is being greenwashed, ask yourself these questions:
Is the company being transparent?
Are their goals direct and clearly defined?
Do they embrace their role in battling climate change?
Are they actively choosing the planet over profits?
