For my research essay I will be examining different companies’ ad campaigns about environmental sustainability efforts and if they are fabricated. Greenwashing has been around for many years, but after Covid, it has grown a substantial amount with large companies. Many companies are experiencing what researchers refer to as growing pains because consumers want to take part in an eco-friendlier society to decrease pollution and the brands just cannot keep up. Brands quick solution is to make promises they cannot keep or just blatantly lie in their ads to keep customers coming back. We have seen this in numerous brands that include fashion, vehicles, furniture, and even soda. With the number of pollutants these companies are putting into the atmosphere, it is necessary that they keep being exposed for greenwashing and consumers learning what to keep an eye out for.

Hicks, Robin. (2020, May 28). Cheap virgin plastic is being sold as recycled plastic—it’s time for better recycling certification. Eco-Business. Cheap virgin plastic is being sold as recycled plastic—it’s time for better recycling certification | News | Eco-Business | Asia Pacific

Background: This article provides sources about companies lying by using cheaper virgin plastic with recycled plastic and advertising it as “100% recycled plastic” in order to draw in consumers from being “economically sustainable.” After Covid, the price of virgin polyethylene terephthalate (PET) has dropped significantly which is a temptation for companies to use it because of its similarities to recycle plastic. Without laboratory tests, it is hard to tell what the companies are truly using.

How I Intend to Use it: I intend to use the information from this article to support my argument that companies lie to the public partially because of the growing pains they face when it comes to being environmentally friendly. The transparency this company lacks has hidden their unsustainability and lies from the public, but this lie being exposed shows customers that the company isn’t trustworthy anymore. Having a third-party verification system might be the solution to companies being truthful about their plastic usage.

Quotes: “In the recycling business, there are people who have benefitted from a lack of transparency for a long time,” he said. – Josse Kunst

“The high price of recycled plastic has tempted manufacturers to mix in much cheaper virgin plastic and sell it as 100 per cent recycled material.”

Rannard, G. (2022, February 7). Climate change: Top companies exaggerating their progress – study. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60248830

Background: This article provides in detail what multiple big companies have promised to increase efforts in becoming environmentally sustainable. One in particular was Ikea, a big furniture company who has made promises to reduce their carbon footprint by 2030. According to the Corporate Clime Responsibility Monitor in 2022, Ikea’s promises have come up as unreachable by their promised time.

How I Intend to Use it: I intend to use this article to support the argument that companies come up with unrealistic promises in their campaigns to people please. Their consumer base is looking for answers to how they are going to decrease their carbon footprint, so putting out fake stories to appease them is what they’re doing with no real plan.

Quotes:

“We are reducing the climate footprint from IKEA retail operations, customer and co-worker travel and home deliveries. We are switching to renewable energy and aim for all home deliveries to be made using zero emissions vehicles by 2025.”- link promise made by Ikea

Schwenk, C. (2022). Sustainable or greenwash? An analysis of how fast fashion brands use Social Media Marketing. https://repositorio.ucp.pt/bitstream/10400.14/40217/1/203132149.pdf

Background: In this research paper, I have found that clothing brands are using what is called, “the 7 sins of greenwashing.” For example, the clothing brand Mango uses greenwashing on their Instagram pages when pushing out their so-called sustainable collection, but really most of the clothing did not come from the cellulose fibers it claimed. The article referred to this as, sin of trade-off, or in other words the brand was lying about the materials they were using. Pg.39

How I Intend to Use it: I intend to use this piece to show how companies create false advertising just so they can get more publicity for their product to sell.In this case it’s fashion, which adds 8-10% to the world’s carbon emissions and to 20% of wastewater according to Mark Brewer in his promoting sustainability article.

Brewer, M. K. (2019). Slow Fashion in a Fast Fashion World: Promoting Sustainability and Responsibility. Laws, 8(4), 24. MDPI. https://doi.org/10.3390/laws8040024

‌Quotes:

Pizzetti, M., Gatti, L., & Seele, P. (2019). Firms Talk, Suppliers Walk: Analyzing the Locus of Greenwashing in the Blame Game and Introducing “Vicarious Greenwashing.” Journal of Business Ethics, 170(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04406-2

Background: This article discusses what greenwashing is and it explains why companies participate in it; they are trying to appeal to consumers as well as dodge penalties from higher ups like the government. Defines that indirect greenwashing is when a company is in communication with being more sustainable but working with an external supplier that is not, by buying and using their products.

How I Intend to Use it: Introducing a question if companies declare they are going green, but buy (and support) a supplier that is not on the same page, are they still economically sustainable? Going to argue no because the company is attempting to decrease their carbon footprint, or even try to be net neutral, they would try and find another reliable source that also wants to achieve this. If not, they are still adding to pollution one way or another in their company.

Quotes:

“We expect that, when a declared control of the supply-chain is present, a company culpable of indirect or vicarious greenwashing is perceived as also being accountable for the supplier’s actions. Such expanded accountability leads to greater blame.”- section H1

“Moreover, if the misbehavior is not controllable by a company, then a company can adopt a sustainability standard in order to force a supplier to act sustainably, or it can select more sustainable suppliers.”- section H3

Hotten, R. (2015, December 10). Volkswagen: The scandal explained. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-34324772

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Rechtin, M. (2016, March 29). FTC Charges Volkswagen With False Advertising. Consumer Reports. https://www.consumerreports.org/volkswagen/ftc-charges-volkswagen-with-false-advertising/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20FTC%20complaint%2C%20Volkswagen%20promoted%20its

Background: A popular German car brand, Volkswagen, was caught with false advertisements on their supposedly “clean car” campaign that was aired in many places including the Super Bowl ads. The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) caught Volkswagen cheating on government emissions tests with a defeat devise that covered the amount of emissions the car spewed out, which was actually 40 times over the legal limit. More than 550,000 cars were sold to consumers who thought they were getting sustainable cars to help the environment but really were a part of a scheme for the company to put a pretty high price tag on these vehicles.

How I Intend to Use it: I will use this in my paper to argue that these companies are using big ad campaigns, including Superbowl’s, social media campaigns, and print advertising to greenwash people into thinking they are moving towards sustainability growth, but really are out to make a quick buck. By doing this they hit their target market of “environmentally conscious” consumers by taking advantage of them through the biggest ad campaigns. Not only is the pollution getting worst, but the consumers are also losing their money.

Quotes:

“The campaign slogans included claims that the VW Jetta diesel “reduces nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by up to 90 percent,” and that the Audi TDI engines emit “fewer NOx emissions than comparable gasoline engines,” and “meet the strictest EPA standards in the U.S.” 

“As a result, consumers didn’t get the benefit of the environmentally friendly car they thought they were purchasing, and resale values likely will fall.”