Greenwashing by Companies: Against Business Ethics
Increasingly companies’ marketing and public relations activities, and their reports are emphasizing their environmental and social activities and aspirations. A number of commentators claim this is “greenwashing”. Discuss, referring to business ethics.
Today’s society is becoming more and more aware of the effects it has on nature from its own presence. Because of this, companies are increasingly trying to promote their operations or products as environmentally friendly or green but in truth it may cause damage to the environment. This is commonly known as 'Greenwashing '. Using the 'Greenwash ' approach regularly tests the gap between corporate social responsibility claims and actual practise (Font, et al., 2012). People believe that organisations need to define their roles in society and apply social and ethical standards to their business (Lindgreen & Swaen, 2010). In other words, every company should demonstrate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) yet studies are showing a large percentage of environmental claims either mislead or deceive the public (Elizabeth, 2010), meaning they are not really demonstrating CSR at all.
Forms of Greenwashing come in many different forms, such as reports, advertising, packaging, and campaigns. . The question is how do companies achieve this greenwashing effect? Companies attempt to 'whitewash ' consumers through false statements or by using biased presentations of data. Nowadays when companies announce a new product or service, consumers are Greenwashed by making subtle use of specific colours, images and fonts with a seemingly genuine storyline to do with the environment or nature. According to Elizabeth (2010), businesses will consistently make claims that their products are benefiting consumers and the environment, usually by placing all marketing emphasis to make it seem environmentally friendly or green. For instance, PepsiCo in 2012 released a new product called 'Pepsi Next ' which claims to be
Today’s society is becoming more and more aware of the effects it has on nature from its own presence. Because of this, companies are increasingly trying to promote their operations or products as environmentally friendly or green but in truth it may cause damage to the environment. This is commonly known as 'Greenwashing '. Using the 'Greenwash ' approach regularly tests the gap between corporate social responsibility claims and actual practise (Font, et al., 2012). People believe that organisations need to define their roles in society and apply social and ethical standards to their business (Lindgreen & Swaen, 2010). In other words, every company should demonstrate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) yet studies are showing a large percentage of environmental claims either mislead or deceive the public (Elizabeth, 2010), meaning they are not really demonstrating CSR at all.
Forms of Greenwashing come in many different forms, such as reports, advertising, packaging, and campaigns. . The question is how do companies achieve this greenwashing effect? Companies attempt to 'whitewash ' consumers through false statements or by using biased presentations of data. Nowadays when companies announce a new product or service, consumers are Greenwashed by making subtle use of specific colours, images and fonts with a seemingly genuine storyline to do with the environment or nature. According to Elizabeth (2010), businesses will consistently make claims that their products are benefiting consumers and the environment, usually by placing all marketing emphasis to make it seem environmentally friendly or green. For instance, PepsiCo in 2012 released a new product called 'Pepsi Next ' which claims to be
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