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by Sophie Andrews
Greenwashing is everywhere, yet we completely overlook it, since an average person has no means to question the claims of a brand, through the common assumption ‘What do they get out of it?’.
What is greenwashing?
The origin story
The term was made official by Jay Westerveld in 1986. Westerveld criticised a hotel’s attempt at greenwashing in order to reduce costs by not washing as many towels, however this was labelled as an attempt at sustainability by the hotel, through the popularised phrase ‘Eco-friendly’.
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Generation Z’s unknowing contribution towards the problem
The generation that grew up surrounded by the likes of new and developing technology, we are consistently criticised, particularly online, for speaking up around issues that have only recently been discovered to be problematic. However, not many of us are familiar with what greenwashing is, since we are fond of mass-consumption in the new age of online shopping. Gen Z. Although an article by ‘Mc Kinsey’ states that “in particular Gen Zers—are tolerant of brands when they make mistakes, if the mistakes are corrected. That path is more challenging for large corporations, since a majority of our respondents believe that major brands are less ethical than small ones”, the article also highlights our inability to distinguish “...between the ethics of a brand, the company that owns it, and its network of partners and suppliers. A company’s actions must match its ideals, and those ideals must permeate the entire stakeholder system.” and most of us fall for a brand’s greenwashing since we are so determined to improve the condition of the planet, when others before us didn’t. Due to companies’ awareness of our fatal flaw, they take initiative to become more socially conscious to appeal to this more youthful audience - some companies succeed - but others use greenwashing rather than actually becoming sustainable, either way, it is primarily to make more money, since this is the fundamental purpose of businesses and branding, if used correctly, can successfully deceive even the most conscientious consumer.
Examples of companies known to greenwash
Although many companies are likely to use greenwashing, whether majorly or minorly, we cannot make assumptions about any brand unless there is substantial evidence to prove this. Therefore only a few examples of big brands that have or had greenwashed include: Volkswagen, H&M, Zara, Uniqlo, SHEIN, Coca-Cola, IKEA, Exxonmobil and Starbucks. Volkawagen had a considerably large and media-covered scandal, discovered in 2015. In summary, the Environmental Protection Agency uncovered that the brand had around eleven million cars worldwide containing a ‘defect device’ which adapted the performance of the cars when being tested for emissions outputs. In the USA, containing around half a million of these cars, it was revealed that these problematic engines released pollutants containing up to 40 times more than what is acceptable in the country. For a more detailed account of the scandal, BBC news released this article: Volkswagen: The scandal explained.
How to detect greenwashing
Be sure to observe the use of vague language with little detail as to how a brand encourages ‘sustainability’, such as the term ‘eco-friendly’ or ‘sustainable materials’. It should also be noted that companies that never accept and apologise for their previous mistakes, whether environmental or not, are unlikely to confess to greenwashing either, it is highly unlikely even the most likeable brand will have no trace of a carbon footprint. Another ‘red flag’, so to say, is when a company makes a ‘sustainable claim’, however does not provide substantial evidence or proof that supports or thoroughly reassures customers of their realistic intentions.
Conclusion
We, as customers, must understand that brands being completely sustainable and providing no harm to the environment is near to impossible and severely unattainable. However, we should aim to support brands that provide sufficient communication to their consumers surrounding their eco-intentions and most importantly, do not deceive their audience through the malicious and unethical technique of greenwashing.
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