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Greenwashing!
Welcome to Earth Day 2021. What are marketers bringing us now?
On Earth Day, more than a decade ago, the lead article on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times was headed “Marketing Earth Day Inc.” Written by the director of an environmental agency, the piece opened: “Welcome to Earth Day, brought to you by petroleum powers, big-box developers, old-growth loggers, and chemically dependent coffee companies trying to paint their public image green. Through concerted marketing and public relations campaigns, these greenwashers attract eco-conscious consumers and push the notion that they don’t need environmental regulation because they already are environmentally responsible.”
At the time, the worst offenders included Kraft Foods, cited for promoting Post cereals as having natural ingredients while making them from genetically engineered corn; Clairol, for claiming that Herbal Essences shampoo offered a “truly organic experience,” though its formula included chemicals; General Motors, for picturing its SUVs in habitats as “if they were as natural as the birds,” when they were more harmful to the environment than most other cars. And ExxonMobil, for, with the other oil giants, helping kill the Kyoto Protocol that called for tougher international emissions standards.
