Environmental Trends and Greenwashing.pptx

Environmental Trend: Greenwashing Learning Goals: ▶ To understand the environmental friendly trend ▶ To form an opinion on greenwashing and what constitutes genuine environmental policy versus posturing Success Criteria: ▶ I can explain what trends are occurring related to green companies ▶ I can...

Environmental Trend: Greenwashing Learning Goals: ▶ To understand the environmental friendly trend ▶ To form an opinion on greenwashing and what constitutes genuine environmental policy versus posturing Success Criteria: ▶ I can explain what trends are occurring related to green companies ▶ I can assess the environmental and marketing activities of a business to determine if they are greenwashing or not Environmental Trends ▶ Consumer interest in shopping from sustainable and environmentally friendly sources has been gaining momentum Discuss with partner (2 min) People choose to shop from sustainable companies for a variety of reasons, turn to a partner and brainstorm as many reasons as you can in 2 minutes! Case Study Let's read the article together and discuss the answers to the case questions afterwards. 1. What industries do you think are being the most impacted by the trend towards sustainability? 2. The article says that sustainability plays a key role in developing a brand. What does this mean? 3. Do you compare how sustainable or environmentally friendly brands are before purchasing? Why or why not? https://www.businessinsider.com/sustainability-as-a-value-is-changing-how-consumers-shop Greenwashing Greenwashing can be thought of as: 1. The use of marketing to portray an organization's products,activities or policies, as environmentally friendly when they are not 2. When a company or organization spends more time and money claiming to be “green” through advertising and marketing then actually implementing business practices to minimize environmental impact Can you think of any companies or brands that you think greenwashes? Greenwashing Greenwashing ▶ The general idea behind greenwashing is to create a benefit by appearing to be a green company, whether that benefit comes in the form of a higher stock price, more customers or favored partnerships with green organizations ▶ Being (or at least putting on the appearance of being) "green" or sustainable has become a very good marketing strategy. ▶ It is happening in basically all sectors of the economy - food, energy, transportation, housing, business, cleaning products, events, sports stadiums, and even fashion. Business pursuing sustainability is not a bad thing. ▶ If we are going to achieve a sustainable future, the business community will have to be on board, if not leading the way. The problem is when a business is using sustainability more as a marketing ploy than a legitimate attempt at addressing sustainability Greenwashing How do you know if a company is making a legitimate attempt at addressing sustainability? In short: it's complicated! The folks in the Greenwashing Index offer some good suggestions on how to investigate claims: ● "If you see a green ad, take a look at the company as a whole. Can you easily find more information about their sustainable business practices on their website? Do they have a comprehensive environmental story? Is there believable information to substantiate the green claims you saw in the ad? If not, buyer beware." ● "Google the company name plus the word 'environment' and see what pops up.” ● "'I know it when I see it.'...those are words to live by for the consumer and green marketing claims. If you spot a green ad, how does it strike your gut? Does it ring true and authentic, or is it obviously hype? Smart shoppers abound globally, and your own scrutiny of green marketing claims is one more item to throw into your shopping cart." Case Studies Let's see another example: 1. What are these advertisements trying to say? What is the key message and target market? 2. Are these companies Green Washing? 3. Do you think greenwashing is unethical or simply a good marketing technique? Google Classroom Worksheet 4.2b! Please go to Google Classroom and complete the worksheet reviewing marketing based on sustainability and greenwashing. Learning Goals: ▶ To understand the environmental friendly trend ▶ To form an opinion on greenwashing and what constitutes genuine environmental policy versus posturing Success Criteria: ▶ I can explain what trends are occurring related to green companies ▶ I can assess the environmental and marketing activities of a business to determine if they are greenwashing or not