It’s clear that there is a demand for more sustainable shopping choices, that consumers want to be the agents of change, demanding action from companies towards more environmentally friendly production. Unfortunately, this can also affect the way the products we buy are marketed to us. The familiar term ‘greenwashing’ was coined in 1986 by environmentalist Jay Westerveld but is still abundantly used today to refer to companies who falsely promote their environmental efforts, in an effort to get consumers to believe they are more planet friendly than they really are. It can come in all shapes and forms, from slightly misleading labelling on egg cartons to fossil fuel companies spending millions on campaigns showing how “green” they are.

The issue with greenwashing is that not only does it convey false claims of environmental consciousness, but it can also result in mistrust from consumers, having a negative impact on brands whose claims are accurate and truthful. It can be hard to tell what is greenwashing and what is genuine marketing. Key indicators can be vague wording, buzz words, images of nature with no relation to the company or product, or when only a few out of several products is marketed as ‘eco friendly’. Getting to the bottom of whether a companies claims are false or not can often take a lot more digging than simply looking at their marketing and products.