What is “Greenwashing”? ft. Examples

Hey earth muffins! In the past I have written posts titled “What is Fast Fashion & How to Avoid It” and “What is Planned Obsolescence & How to Avoid It“. You all seem to love when I share eco-friendly information that you might not know; so, I thought I would keep this series alive and talk about something that I have been seeing a lot more of recently: greenwashing. As “sustainability” and “being green” become hotter topics (which they should!), it seems like more companies are using this technique. To protect your purchases and keep you in the know, here is the 411 on greenwashing as well as some greenwashing examples.

Greenwashing Defined

Business News Daily does an excellent job of defining this term as:

“Greenwashing is when a company or organization spends more time and money on marketing themselves as environmentally friendly than on minimizing their environmental impact. It is a deceitful advertising gimmick intended to mislead consumers who prefer to buy goods and services from environmentally conscious brands.

–Business news daily

While I have been seeing this practice rise up more now, this term was actually first defined in the 1980s! Pretty sad that we have been fighting for better environmental practices even then.

Why is greenwashing bad?

For starters, I find it more difficult to support companies that actually care about the planet. While I will go the extra mile to ensure that the company is actually sustainable, many consumers shop with convenience, price, and time in mind. If they see a product that is supposedly “greener” than one at a similar price, they will purchase it… But this could be supporting a company that is actually just as bad!

Greenwashing is also bad because it makes people think they are supporting eco-friendly companies – when they actually aren’t! This is devastating for an earth muffin but also unfair to those just trying to make small changes in the goods that they purchase.

Lastly, this practice can get people to spend more money on a product that actually isn’t “green”. There is data to support that consumers are willing to pay a premium for sustainable products; I know I fall into this category! If you think a product is better for the environment, you might splurge on it… And the company that doesn’t actually care about the environment gets extra profit in its pocket. Yikes. 🙄

What are some greenwashing examples?

The most prominent example that comes to mind for me is H&M; I’ve been seeing this commercial on TV a lot recently.

It starts with the statement “What we do today will define our tomorrow” – something that rings true with anyone who cares about the environment. The commerical is filled with statements that make you think H&M is doing amazing things for the planet:

• “We will keep changing how we design, how we choose materials, and how we make our products”
• “We are turning using into reusing and recycling”
• “More than half of our materials are recycled, organic, or sustainably sourced” and “by 2030, it will be 100%“

At the time of writing this post, H&M has 6,018 items in the women’s department, 1,722 in men’s, 3,778 in kid’s, and 701 in home decor. If you aren’t into adding (like me, the accountant), that’s a total of 12,219 products.

In their “Conscious” line, there are 445 items in the women’s department, 31 in the men’s, 885 in kid’s, and 88 in home decor. For a total of 1,449, that is only 11.9% of their total product offering. So it makes me question if more than half of their materials are actually recycled, organic, or sustainably sourced….. 🤔

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to bash H&M. I think it is great that they are trying to be better than other fast fashion companies. But, they still change out their products each season; they still offer way too many items which result in excess inventory; they are still a FAST FASHION company. So stop the greenwashing please!

How can I avoid greenwashing?

1. Take all “green” and “sustainable” lingo in advertisements, packaging, and marketing with a grain of salt. This is especially true if the company makes broad, non-specific statements with no evidence or support to back them up. If a product has a ton of verbiage or “green” imagery on it, this might be an indication that they are trying to greenwash.

2. DO YOUR RESEARCH! If you aren’t sure about a company or their product, then pass on it at the store. Go home, do your research into their company practices, and then (maybe) buy it next time. I like to look at the corporate social responsibility reports of companies; it is a great way to see if they actually care about the planet!

3. Don’t always trust those labels. There are many types of non-GMO, organic, Fair Trade, etc. labels out there. But, make sure you look into which are actually difficult to acquire. Some are easier to get than others, so a company might make a small investment to get certified when they don’t have the best practices in real life.

4. Don’t buy new products. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – there are SO many great secondhand options from thrifting to trading to using your friend’s to DIYing. You will never need to read about another greenwashing example if you don’t buy new things! 😀

Share this post!