Greenwashing: Petroleum and Oil
Greenwashing
It is now popular to be environmentally conscious in American society. It is completely acknowledged by the populace that oil will, indeed, run out within a lifetime, leaving a demand for a different kind of energy source. Hybrid cars, such as the Prius are now mainstream, recycling is day-to-day, finding organic fruits, vegetables, and meat is as easy as walking to the nearest grocery store, and using plastic bags has been deemed unacceptable. Global warming, while debated and questioned by conservative policymakers has generally been accepted as fact by the population. With any movement, fad, or great change, a great number of people –including corporate media -- want to jump on board the Green Revolution. This is a money making opportunity, and while some companies have good and progressive intentions, there are many that do not. Americans are being purposefully mislead and lied to by corporations that use the false advertising method of Greenwashing.
Every day, we are bombarded with advertising. Watching television, surfing the internet, driving on the highway, taking the subway, sitting at the bus station, reading magazines, shopping at the mall, and even grocery shopping: no matter what we do, advertising dominates the span of our vision. In her essay, “Framing Class, Vicarious Living, and Conspicuous Consumption”, Diana Kendall asserts, “Because of their pervasive nature, the media have the symbolic capacity to define the world for other people” (341). Millions of dollars are put into the psychology of advertising, and through this, imagery is used to sway our ways of thinking. Different ethnic groups, social classes and gender are generally targeted. In ecological marketing, the target market is the socially and environmentally conscious consumer, and everywhere the consumer looks, this form of marketing is popping up.
Greenwashing is a marketing technique used by companies, corporations, and governments to declare their
It is now popular to be environmentally conscious in American society. It is completely acknowledged by the populace that oil will, indeed, run out within a lifetime, leaving a demand for a different kind of energy source. Hybrid cars, such as the Prius are now mainstream, recycling is day-to-day, finding organic fruits, vegetables, and meat is as easy as walking to the nearest grocery store, and using plastic bags has been deemed unacceptable. Global warming, while debated and questioned by conservative policymakers has generally been accepted as fact by the population. With any movement, fad, or great change, a great number of people –including corporate media -- want to jump on board the Green Revolution. This is a money making opportunity, and while some companies have good and progressive intentions, there are many that do not. Americans are being purposefully mislead and lied to by corporations that use the false advertising method of Greenwashing.
Every day, we are bombarded with advertising. Watching television, surfing the internet, driving on the highway, taking the subway, sitting at the bus station, reading magazines, shopping at the mall, and even grocery shopping: no matter what we do, advertising dominates the span of our vision. In her essay, “Framing Class, Vicarious Living, and Conspicuous Consumption”, Diana Kendall asserts, “Because of their pervasive nature, the media have the symbolic capacity to define the world for other people” (341). Millions of dollars are put into the psychology of advertising, and through this, imagery is used to sway our ways of thinking. Different ethnic groups, social classes and gender are generally targeted. In ecological marketing, the target market is the socially and environmentally conscious consumer, and everywhere the consumer looks, this form of marketing is popping up.
Greenwashing is a marketing technique used by companies, corporations, and governments to declare their