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[[wikipedia:Greenwashing|Greenwashing]] is a form of advertising or marketing that deceptively uses social and environmental PR in order to persuade the public that a company's products, goals, or policies are environmentally friendly. Companies that intentionally adopt greenwashing strategies often do so to distance themselves from their environmental lapses or those of their suppliers. While the term itself was coined in a 1986 essay about the hotel industry's "save the towel" movement,<ref>[https://www.aol.com/2011/02/12/the-history-of-greenwashing-how-dirty-towels-impacted-the-green/?guccounter=2 A History of Greenwashing: How Dirty Towels Impacted the Green Movement] - AOL</ref> the practice has been traced back to the 1950's with the "keep America beautiful" campaign which puts the burden of reducing and recycling litter on the consumer and shifts the focus away from corporate responsibility.<ref name=":0">[https://www.herinst.org/BusinessManagedDemocracy/environment/fronts/KAB.html Front Groups - Keep America Beautiful] - Business-Managed Environment - </ref>
'''{{Wplink|Greenwashing}}''' is a form of advertising or marketing that deceptively uses social and environmental public relations (PR) in order to persuade the public that a company's products, goals, or policies are environmentally-friendly. Companies that intentionally adopt greenwashing strategies often do so to distance themselves from their environmental lapses or those of their suppliers. While the term itself was coined in a 1986 essay about the hotel industry's "save the towel" movement,<ref>{{Cite web |first=Jim |last=Motavalli |title=A History of Greenwashing: How Dirty Towels Impacted the Green Movement |url=https://www.aol.com/2011-02-12-the-history-of-greenwashing-how-dirty-towels-impacted-the-green.html |website=AOL |date=12 Feb 2011 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822081337/https://www.aol.com/2011-02-12-the-history-of-greenwashing-how-dirty-towels-impacted-the-green.html |archive-date=22 Aug 2024}}</ref> the practice has been traced back to the 1950s with the "keep America beautiful" campaign that places the burden of reducing and recycling litter onto the consumer and shifts the focus away from corporate responsibility.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Business-Managed Environment — Front Groups — Keep America Beautiful |url=https://www.herinst.org/BusinessManagedDemocracy/environment/fronts/KAB.html |website=herinst.org |date=2009 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225224843/https://www.herinst.org/BusinessManagedDemocracy/environment/fronts/KAB.html |archive-date=25 Feb 2012}}</ref><blockquote>“Their glitzy advertisements can no longer conceal their climate criminal behaviour – polluting the planet, raking in record profits, and sanitising their own image to continue the climate-wrecking cycle.” — former Green Party MP Caroline Lucas<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>


<blockquote>“Their glitzy advertisements can no longer conceal their climate criminal behaviour – polluting the planet, raking in record profits, and sanitising their own image to continue the climate-wrecking cycle.” &mdash; former Green Party MP Caroline Lucas<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>
==Notable examples==
*BP-post-Gulf oil spill advertisements<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |first=Ria |last=Kakkad |title=Is BP’s latest campaign nothing more than 'sophisticated greenwashing'? |url=https://www.sustainability-beat.co.uk/2023/09/15/bp-greenwashing/ |website=Sustainability / Beat |date=15 Sep 2023 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208053401/https://www.sustainability-beat.co.uk/2023/09/15/bp-greenwashing/ |archive-date=8 Dec 2023}}</ref>
*Beverage companies - continuation of the "keep America beautiful" movement<ref name=":0" />
*Volkswagen - emissions scandal<ref>{{Cite web |first=Jeff |last=Plungis |title=Volkswagen emissions scandal: Forty years of greenwashing - the well-travelled road taken by VW |url=https://www.the-independent.com/news/business/analysis-and-features/volkswagen-emissions-scandal-forty-years-of-greenwashing-the-welltravelled-road-taken-by-vw-10516209.html |website=The Independent
|date=25 Sep 2015 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250405063138/https://www.the-independent.com/news/business/analysis-and-features/volkswagen-emissions-scandal-forty-years-of-greenwashing-the-welltravelled-road-taken-by-vw-10516209.html |archive-date=5 Apr 2025}}</ref>
*Shell - misleading advertisements implying that Shell is more green than what it actually is<ref>{{Cite news |last=Meredith |first=Sam |date=7 Jun 2023 |title=Oil giant Shell’s UK ad campaign banned for being ‘likely to mislead’ consumers |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/07/oil-shells-uk-ad-campaign-banned-for-misleading-consumers.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230618174208/https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/07/oil-shells-uk-ad-campaign-banned-for-misleading-consumers.html |archive-date=18 Jun 2023 |access-date=21 Jul 2025}}</ref>


==Notable examples==
==References==
{{Reflist}}


*BP-post-Gulf oil spill advertisements<ref name=":1">[https://www.sustainability-beat.co.uk/2023/09/15/bp-greenwashing/ Is BP’s latest campaign nothing more than 'sophisticated greenwashing'?] - Sustainability / Beat</ref>
[[Category:Common terms]]
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