CASE STUDY
Environmental Claims and "Greenwashing"
Many consumers want to buy as green as they can, and many businesses are tapping into this desire. The number of claims about the environmental and sustainability credentials of consumer products and services in advertising can be overwhelming. Yet many of the claims made are unverified and unverifiable for the consumer. Many are misleading.
Consumer protection regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is making misleading green claims a priority for monitoring and enforcement.
Working with the Consumer Policy Research centre, ADM+S researchers are searching the Ad Observatory to identify how frequently consumers are targeted with green advertising, and how misleading these claims are. Our research asks how environmental consumerism and sustainable consumption is produced on social media, and whether it is targeted at particular cohorts.
RESEARCHERS
Prof Christine Parker
Chief Investigator,
University of Melbourne
Dr Loup Cellard
Affiliate,
Datactivist Coop
