Member-only story
EU to crack down on advertisers making false green claims
To protect increasingly climate-conscious consumers from being misled, the proposed directive will ban generic statements including ‘eco,’ ‘environmentally-friendly,’ ‘carbon neutral,’ and ‘natural’ from being made without evidence.
More than ever, we’re seeing brands claiming to be sustainability-orientated in an effort to attract climate-conscious consumers.
So much so, in fact, that words such as ‘recyclable,’ ‘biodegradable,’ and ‘responsibly sourced’ can be found on almost every piece of packaging their products are cased in.
Yet while some of these companies are true to their word and do uphold genuinely progressive values and practices, many seem a little too keen to emphasise outlandish environmental credentials when, in reality, it’s all part of a marketing tactic called ‘greenwashing.’
This, as I’m sure you know by now, involves brands deliberately flooding their campaigns with extremely ambiguous language to make shoppers think they have the planet’s best interests at heart when they actually don’t.
During the last decade, this deceitful ploy has gained significant traction…