Greenwashing in marketing refers to companies presenting product or service information in a way that makes consumers believe it is environmentally friendly. Today’s consumers need to be particularly aware of how this marketing technique works to avoid being duped.
It’s 8am on a Friday morning, and you realise you’re out of toothpaste. So, after work, you take a quick shopping trip and peruse the personal care product shelves for your favourite brand. Unfortunately, they don’t have it, and now you have to decide which one of the myriad options in front of you is best.
You notice that one of the toothpaste boxes looks like it’s made out of cardboard, and it has a green leaf symbol on it. The box says “eco-friendly”, “plant-based”, and includes the natural ingredient charcoal. Perfect! That one must be environmentally friendly. You grab it and go to the checkout.
While in line, you decide to look up company reviews on your phone. To your dismay, the reviews are terrible – they say that this toothpaste company is marketing its products as “eco-friendly” but actually doing nothing to help the environment.
You head back to the toothpaste aisle and shove the toothpaste back onto the shelf. You’re running out of time, so you settle for a tube of name-brand toothpaste. It may not be particularly environmentally friendly, but at least the company isn’t lying about it!
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