A Beacon Gainer article, written by Ally Goldberg, Ethical and Social Impact Business Manager for Beacon Gainer and Miolo private client advisory services group.
Greenwashing is an unethical marketing technique whereby a company attempts to make itself appear actively focused on environmental and sustainability improvements, when in reality it is not. Using misleading language and unsubstantiated claims, businesses use greenwashing to lure in impact-conscious customers who otherwise might avoid them. The people who use greenwashing in their marketing are careful not to make explicitly false claims, meaning that it is not technically illegal false advertising, but rather just immoral and deceptive.
As more and more clients look for an emphasis on sustainability in the companies they wish to invest in, it is vital to know how to spot greenwashing. We have to take the time to look for warning signs that the eco-friendly business you love may not be so friendly after all – but what are those signs?
The biggest tell-tale sign of greenwashing is vague, non-specific language surrounding environmental issues. If a company often uses words like ‘eco-friendly’ and ‘sustainable’ to describe their products and practices but don’t specify what they mean by that, this is a red flag.
Anyone can call a product ‘eco-friendly’, the key is in asking exactly what that entails. Is there information on the website about their manufacturing processes and suppliers, and what makes them sustainable? It can be a complex and expensive endeavour to make product manufacturing into an ethical process – if a company has done that, they will be shouting it from the rooftops, explaining the specifics of what they have done. If they aren’t, maybe it is because they haven’t actually put the work in.
On the flipside, language that is overly complex and littered with jargon that the average customer won’t understand is a bad sign too. Companies who have invested in their environmental impact would want as many people as possible to know about and understand it. Unnecessarily complicated wording could be a sign that the company wants to confuse and distract clients from looking too deeply into what the words actually mean.
Another way that companies greenwash without risking any legal issues regarding false promotion is to use symbols and images to imply that a business is eco-friendly, without ever actually claiming it. Maybe a stamp that resembles the recycling symbol, badges from organisations you haven’t heard of, or simply lots of plant-based imagery that seems out of place or irrelevant to the product in question.
What brands come to mind when you think of sustainable products? Think about why you think of them as sustainable. Many of them may have specific policies or processes that you know of that make them genuinely eco-friendly, but there will also be some that just ‘seem like they would be’. This is probably based on their branding rather than any actual contribution to the environment.
Imagery also plays a large role in a similar practice called pink washing, which is essentially the same as greenwashing except that it involves the LGBTQ community rather than the environment. Businesses change their logo to a rainbow, which implies that they support or contribute to the LGBTQ community without actually stating it. In reality, simply using a rainbow logo for a month contributes nothing to the LGBTQ community and doesn’t necessarily mean the business is diverse or ethical.
Sometimes it takes only a light amount of research to see through a greenwashed marketing campaign. Other times, however, companies will go to great lengths to appear ethical and it takes knowledge and time to confirm those claims. To discuss your ethical and social purposes, whether or not your money is going towards sustainable businesses, please contact our experts at Beacon Gainer using email address welcome@beacongainer.com and also view our services at www.beacongainer.com
