Truth, the podcast Riley Imogen Osborn

While advertisers’ and vendors’ use of false or misleading claims to pedal products to consumers predates the bartering system, “greenwashing” marketing has only become popularized in roughly the past half-century, markedly with the launch of the environmental movement in the 1960’s and the first Earth Day in 1970. As people become increasingly aware of the long-term and irreversible environmental damage that comes as a cost of human industrial and agricultural activities and green politics takes center-stage as a key topic for voters, advertisers exploit consumers’ perceived responsibility and fear and market products as being more environmentally friendly or “green” than there is legitimate evidence for. If a consumer feels as though one product or brand is environmentally superior to competing products, and being environmentally cautious is ethically important to them, then the “green” product has an advantage against the competition, even if there is no “real” environmental difference. There are many subtypes of greenwashing­– four common manifestations are “green by association,” “lack of definition,” “unproven claims,” and “outright lying.” These schemes employ lies, deceit, and Frankfurt and Cohen-style b******t to manipulate buyers’ perceptions of products and increase sales, at the expense of an accurate understanding of how consumers can minimize their footprints.

Sources:

https://www.buildinggreen.com/news-article/nine-types-greenwashing

https://www.smh.com.au/healthcare/cocacola-accused-of-greenwashing-with-launch-of-sugarreduced-coke-life-20150330-1mas6u.html

https://www.truthinadvertising.org/tide-purclean/