One interesting South Korean news article I recently read piqued my interest, and I want to share its contents with you guys; the article claimed that, at least in Korea, marketers were misleadingly plastering their products with eco-friendly messages when the products were not actually so eco-friendly. Well, why would companies do that? 

It is actually very well-known among marketers that consumers are growing more and more conscious about the products they purchase and their effect on the environment, and more and more consumers these days would favor an eco-friendly product over one that is not. In fact, the article introduced a term that some may be familiar with: “greenwashing,” which seems to be common around the world, even outside of Korea and Asia. According to Business News Daily, “Greenwashing is when a company purports to be environmentally conscious for marketing purposes but actually isn’t making any notable sustainability efforts” (2). So, what are some ways companies have shown to be misleading in their eco-friendly advertising in Asia and have practiced greenwashing?

One way companies were misleading consumers were by promoting the use of an object in order to promote an eco-friendly practice. For example, Starbucks held an event where the use of its reusable cup was promoted in order to practice the reduction of disposable cup use. However, it was revealed that the “reusable cup” they were promoting was made up of basically the same plastic ingredients as the original disposable cup, and the article claimed that the cup would have to be reused dozens of times for an actual impact on the environment, making the event and use of the special cup misleading.

Another way companies were misleading consumers were by outright claiming that their products were eco-friendly and recyclable when they were really not. For example, a laundry bag business in South Korea produced bags that had marks claiming that the bags would transform into recyclable bags as soon as their layers of plastics were peeled. However, it turned out that the ingredients were, once again, the same as the usual plastic laundry bag, making the eco-friendly message misleading. 

Companies also misleadingly claim that their products are degradable, when, although they are technically degradable, it is not feasible for the degradation to take place. For example, South Korean Starbucks claimed on their wrappers that their forks were biodegradable. However, it was revealed that these forks were only biodegradable in a certain facility that could support constant and specific conditions for the degradation to happen, and South Korea did not have any of these specific facilities. In fact, the article pointed out that the instructions on the wrapper even advised consumers to throw away the fork as “normal trash.” This makes the advertisement, although technically true, misleading. 

Misleading eco-friendly statements in products are prominent not only in Asia but in several places around the globe. In fact, greenwashing is not at all a recent phenomenon; even an American company called DuPont was found to be practicing it in 1991 when advertising its “double-hulled oil tankers” (2). Greenwashing and misleading advertisements will not disappear in the near future; according to the news article, the reason for their prominence is due to the lack of clear and precise eco-friendly guidelines for producers. Therefore, these standards must be clearly established so that consumers can make more conscious decisions (1).

Sources:

1) https://n.news.naver.com/article/055/0000931939?lfrom=kakao

2) https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/10946-greenwashing.html