Essay On Greenwashing

Green washing: The disinformation disseminated by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image. In order for big companies to stay on top of the market today, they are forced to think of advertising strategies to help their public image and advertise their product. Over the years the system has become very complex and also very questionable. Companies are willing to lie, change their logo, and sometimes even their company name just to keep their name and image clean in front of the public just to make sure that they are making their money. Green washing helps this by advertising to the public that they are environmentally supportive and responsible. Most people that are into buying “green products” do not even realize that the company they are buying from is green washing in some sort of way just so that they can attract attention to the public. Green washing companies may advertise that they are “eco-friendly”, but when it comes down to it, the facts hidden behind the curtains beg to differ. Just like in the green washing video we watched in class, the companies may look great compared to the worst companies, but that does not mean what they are doing is still productive for our environmental movement. One company that has been notorious for their green washing efforts for the past couple of decades is the Oil/energy company: British Petroleum a.k.a. Beyond Petroleum. They are one of the world’s largest leading oil companies who has also becoming a large energy supplying company with presence in petrochemicals, gas, and solar divisions. Over the past twenty years BP has been the cause of several deadly disasters in the oil business in the U.S. and around the world. Despite their green washing effor...

In this day and age companies have mastered the technique of misleading customers by fabricating false claims about a green product or service that they swear to provide. This insincere display of information is called ‘Greenwashing’, a spin-off of ‘Whitewashing’. Greenwashing could be said to be a global phenomenon and it’s commonly seen in advertisements, on products packing, websites, emails, speeches, and videos (just to name a few). Greenwashing is a thought out process, a planned and typically well designed campaign. There is a wide range of reasons why companies are eager to partake in greenwashing; divert attention for regulatory change, to persuade critics or consumers, expand the company's market, and to make the company seem appealing. The goal of this paper is to provide three examples of ‘greenwashing’ and to relate these examples to Downing et al. concepts.

...ies that are “going green,” but in reality, they are just getting scammed into buying something for a higher price so that company can make more money. Considering that people have become gullible to the global warming fears, companies can put green or “going green” on their products and people will automatically buy their product, thinking that they are helping putting a stop to global warming.

Many people fail to notice that today’s advertisements are often deceitful and do whatever it takes to make us believe we need to buy the product being advertised. Based on this statement, one may wonder how advertisements can make us buy into their lies and what the effects of advertisements lying to people may have on society as a whole. In order to understand this concept and its implications, it is useful to analyze an example of an advertisement that tries to convince people to endorse in a brand by withholding the truth and committing fallacies in the process of doing so. The advertisement that will be discussed is part of a Chevron ad campaign titled “We Agree” that has come out in order to promote the company’s positive external affairs with third world countries and its participation in the green technology and energy movement. The print ad titled “Community” will be the advertisement in focus for this essay. This particular ad portrays Chevron in a philanthropic light while neglecting to address the anti-philanthropic scandals that Chevron has been a part of. By portraying Chevron in such a positive way, this ad presumably accomplishes the feat of making people believe lies. If people are convinced by this ad and feel that it is truthful, then they are being lied to and are failing to see the truth behind the ad—the very reason why Chevron would put on such an ad campaign—to cover up for lies. These people have been misled by advertisement. While seeking to support “good” companies so as to be perceived as good people these people have become victims to Chevron’s ploy to convince the public that their company only benefits the community. However, because this is untrue, such a lie could in turn lead to negative consequ...

Why is it annually increasing in sales despite its grave impact? Is it that people just have zero regard for the planet and those that inhabit it? Are environmentalist just being paranoid? The short answer: it’s complicated. The long answer? Well, that requires an in-depth analyzation of greenwashing, minority targeted advertising, corporate social responsibility, local and state government, cultural relativism, mass public misinformation, the bottled water lobby, privatization, globalization, etc. But for the sake of trying to address the main theme of this project, I only am going to briefly analyze greenwashing and minority targeted

Sarah Shemkus talks about "greenwashing" in the article,"Better Bananas: Chiquita settles lawsuit over green marketing, but the legal battle isn't over." Lets to make a long story short, Chiquita, an American producer and distributor of bananas and other produce, is sued for claiming its production environmental friendly when it is actually not. Not only does Chiquita not produce its products environmentally friendly,

Our resources can be burnt down, flooded out, and even poisoned. Consumers are now concerned with the future and how large companies will affect the environment. Companies need to strive create as little pollution as possible. Target recently partnered with Clean by Design, which is “an innovative program to use the buying power of multinational corporations as a lever to reduce the environmental impacts of their suppliers abroad” (Greer 2015). By partnering with this company Target shows that even though some of their clothing is made abroad in places like China, it is still made in an environmental friendly environment. All consumers live on the same earth need to be aware that what happens miles and miles away still affect them. Target also does small things to help with the environmental issue like offering prizes for employees that carpool or ride their bike to work. Every time an employee carpools or rides their bike to work they add their name to a list and at the end of the month there is a drawing for a gift card. These small incentives add up and help to reduce Target employee’s carbon footprint. Target is doing a great job of being proactive about reducing pollution (Frost

Currently, businesses are facing a growing societal pressure to perform responsibly and sustainably. Western cultures have become more aware of the effect their consumption has on the environment. Furthermore companies are being put under pressure to treat labour, and where applicable, animals with greater care. However this is to an extent optional and it is often argued that corporate social responsibility is taken up voluntarily by the business and that following laws regarding ethical trading is just a prerequisite to “fulfilling the responsibility of enterprises” (Enderle, 2014, pp 723 - 735). Some businesses have monopolised on the added value of ethically sourced products, through promoting a positive brand

Humans have been destroying the planet since we were able to stand on two legs. As a society, we need to work to reverse these terrible effects that our existence has on the planet. Sustainability is one way to begin reversing these effects, while still living our daily lives. In 2006, Al Gore presented his documentary, “ An Inconvenient Truth”, as a way to show the world the evidence behind global warming, climate change and the destruction of our planet. This documentary shocked the world. It was clear that changes needed to be made, but the destruction was more intense than previously thought. SInce this revelation in 2006, companies have tried to cut down on their greenhouse emissions, as well as offered sustainable products to their customers. Through a debate of morals and

Important companies like Shell, DuPont, BP has been reorganised to generate profits from this green market of goods and services. In this sense, it may sound altruistic, "the sustainability", the logic of profitability and competition is what will determine the ability of companies of the future to meet the changing needs of consumers.