Essay About Greenwash
In recent years, the competition among companies is fiercer than ever, and customers have been concerned about environmental issues, so many organizations devote themselves to attract customers via promoting green products and services. As a result, green products as well as greenwashing products, which are labeled as eco-friendly while actually they are not, have inundated the marketplace in modern society. However, some companies overstate their environmental claims so that customers have difficulty in distinguishing real eco-friendly products from greenwashing ones. This essay will show the reasons for greenwashing problems and discuss Chevron’s (one of the world’s largest integrated energy companies) marketing strategies, which hides its destructive environmental records behind eco-friendly rhetoric and advertising campaigns.
There are four main reasons that greenwashing has become a problem in recent years. Firstly, greenwashing activities help to attract customers so that profits can be remarkably increased (Berkeley Media Studies Group 2008, p.20). According to Solman (2008, p.24), British Petroleum (BP), a well-known oil company, profited from the rebranding effort as the corporation changed its name to Beyond Petroleum which can be associated with nature. Meanwhile, greenwashing can help to improve a company’s reputation (Solman 2008, pp.22-23). For example, Solman (2008, pp.22-23) states that BP launched a series of campaigns, hoping that customers would reappraise the company. As a result, Business Week, a famous magazine, acknowledged BP’s effort and praised the company’s investment in alternative energy (Solman 2008, p.23). However, BP is essentially an environmentally destructive corporation for its main profit comes from fossil oil. Thirdly, companies utilize greenwashing practice as an effective measure to increase investment into their products and new technologies (Solman 2008, p.23). For instance, BP once launched a campaign called “BP on the
There are four main reasons that greenwashing has become a problem in recent years. Firstly, greenwashing activities help to attract customers so that profits can be remarkably increased (Berkeley Media Studies Group 2008, p.20). According to Solman (2008, p.24), British Petroleum (BP), a well-known oil company, profited from the rebranding effort as the corporation changed its name to Beyond Petroleum which can be associated with nature. Meanwhile, greenwashing can help to improve a company’s reputation (Solman 2008, pp.22-23). For example, Solman (2008, pp.22-23) states that BP launched a series of campaigns, hoping that customers would reappraise the company. As a result, Business Week, a famous magazine, acknowledged BP’s effort and praised the company’s investment in alternative energy (Solman 2008, p.23). However, BP is essentially an environmentally destructive corporation for its main profit comes from fossil oil. Thirdly, companies utilize greenwashing practice as an effective measure to increase investment into their products and new technologies (Solman 2008, p.23). For instance, BP once launched a campaign called “BP on the
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