Authored by: Emma Boxer, DEIJ Intern & Allison Harten, Digital Communications Intern, CDRW

Consumers make countless decisions on products and services every day. All of our decisions–from what to buy to where to buy it–are informed by many factors including individual values, needs, budget, and information we have about products and businesses. Marketing has become increasingly important as brands and companies try to match their products to changing cultural needs and wants. As the popularity of sustainability and environmentally friendly lifestyles has risen, so has the market share for these products [1] as consumers look to buy and live in alignment with their values.

From Building Green — From: Building Green

With so many brands, services, and products to choose from, there are many businesses that make their products or services appear environmentally friendly, sustainable, or healthier to increase sales without taking action to back up their claims. This act is known as greenwashing, and it misleads consumers in order to capitalize on the popularity of environmentally friendly products without actually investing in sustainability measures.

If you have visited a grocery store, you’ve seen greenwashing in action. It comes in the form of terms like “natural,” “all-natural,” and “farm fresh;” packaging colors like brown and green, and symbols like the earth, farmers and fields, and leaves [2]. While some products using these methods may be implementing eco-friendly measures, others are not, as there are little to no regulations on these advertising methods [3]. This prevents educated decisions, decreases consumer trust in green claims, and ultimately hinders the green movement at large.

Another example of Greenwashing is with the fast-fashion clothing brand, H&M. Fast fashion is notoriously unsustainable, both for the environment and its labor practices [4]. In efforts to manipulate consumer perceptions of their brand, H&M created a clothing recycling campaign and a Conscious Choice clothing line, both of which served as surface-level branding efforts rather than impact-oriented commitments. They are now being sued for greenwashing [5].

Greenwashing can also take more subtle and less intentional forms. Compostable cups are a great example - they are made from more sustainable materials and are purchased by food service businesses in an effort to be greener. But, more often than not, they are only compostable in an industrial facility, not in the trash or home compost. In cities like Philadelphia, there are none of these facilities, so compostable cups are more likely to end up in the trash than in a compost [6]. While the intention behind compostable cups is to be more sustainable, in practice, it is difficult to create a cup that stays out of a landfill. This is considered greenwashing because companies do not disclose the barriers to composting and create a disparity between the information they sell customers and what happens in practice.

Greenwashing is ubiquitous, but there are ways forward. While it should not be the responsibility of consumers to uncover greenwashing, educating yourself as a consumer is key to fighting this phenomenon and creating more consumer demand for regulations and transparency. Businesses can create internal accountability and tangible sustainability commitments to both avoid greenwashing and create real impact [7]. External accountability is also critical, in the form of advocacy for FDA regulations on marketing and advertising.

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What is Greenwashing?

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