" The power of words in selling have always been extremely important . But the kicker here is that you ’ ll find more vague marketing buzzwords than ever ..."
The packaging and branding switch up is a first red flag , or at least warrants enough to do a bit more research on the product . Toiletries and food and drink products are a key culprit – you ’ ll see a lot of greener shades and muted earth tones , designs with leaves and trees or nature inspired motifs . Items might be packaged in ‘ cardboard ’ or brown / neutral colours . Yay , that means it ’ s recyclable and good for the environment ? Not necessarily . Plenty of natural looking packaging is designed that way to make you think you are going to be helping the environment . But turn it over and check the label , unfortunately , more often than not , it can ’ t be easily or at all recycled ( cough , cough , Jersey Dairy !)
The power of words in selling have always been extremely important . But the kicker here is that you ’ ll find more vague marketing buzzwords than ever that are telling you your shampoo , laundry detergent , stationery , reusable cups , clothing etc are ‘ green ’. Key words include : allnatural , bio , pure , clean , simple , eco , planet , life , honest , conscious ... All-natural sounds great , except that uranium , arsenic , mercury and formaldehyde can also be included as all-natural products .
Looking for third party accreditation is really helpful when sussing out the ethics of your products , such as the Rainforest Alliance , Fairtrade , the Leaping Bunny etc . Our eyes and mind are drawn to the familiar circular shape and often green colour of well-known stamps , so when we see something similar , we are likely to think that it symbolises an eco-conscious ethos too . Many brands are cottoning on to this advertising ploy and in the same way they use words and packaging to make us think we have a legit eco product , they use these ‘ green ’ style stamps or symbols to try and give sway . If a reusable water bottle says it ’ s made from recycled plastic bottles , if it ’ s got a big green recycled stamp on it , then it may help to look further . Reading the label or doing research may show that it ’ s only 10 % recycled plastic . Whilst any recycling is helpful and it ’ s not illegal to advertise in this way , you ’ d still be buying a product that is mostly new plastic .
It ’ s so easy to pick up eco looking products from brands that we love and trust , or be excited to try new , innovative looking companies . However , it ’ s always good to do a bit more research . Many newer companies and brands are owned by the Top 3 plastic polluters : Coca-Cola , PepsiCo and Nestle . Trying to be a caring consumer , many people are nowadays more likely to buy products if we think they are owned by smaller , independent , family run or local companies . Again , a quick look into the company often shows links to other companies who are less than savoury in their ethics .
So what do we need ? Whilst I ’ m all for choice , what we simply need is less . It ’ s great that many clothing brands are bringing out eco lines of clothing , but do we really need another line of basics , even if it is 100 % organic cotton ? The cotton is more than likely to have a huge carbon footprint , have used the 20,000 litres of water needed to produce that one t-shirt and a pair of jeans ( true fact !) and be made in a sweatshop in Vietnam , but hey , it ’ s organic , so it must be ecofriendly – nope , that ’ s greenwashing for you . What would be better is the company taking their old clothes that end up in landfill and recycling the fibres into new clothing instead . Reduce and reuse . Have less . Greenwashing is dangerous , because it ’ s telling us that we are doing a good job as a society . But if anything , we ’ ve never been in more danger .
Hopefully you ’ ll be able to spot a few key greenwashing ploys . It may seem cumbersome , to do a bit of research of your own before you buy , but once I did , I couldn ’ t believe how many products and companies I thought matched my values , were actually doing the opposite . It ’ s not about a few of us doing it perfectly , we need everyone to just do it , even imperfectly – and it ’ s time to show brands that they can ’ t fool us . •
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