Advertising can be a powerful force in driving large-scale companies toward sustainability. Marketing influences our thoughts and feelings, and, when used for good, it can be a tool in fixing broken systems. It can also, however, be used to perpetuate them. When it comes to sustainability, unethical and misinformed advertisers use ads as weapons against eco-friendly practices, even if it’s not their intention.
In order to market toward a more sustainable future, we must first understand the successes and the failures of the industry’s past.
We’ll begin with the positive. A strong example of a brand with an enduring eco-friendly reputation is the multinational car manufacturer Land Rover. Environmental responsibility has been a characteristic of Land Rover’s identity as early as the 1980s, which can be seen in its classic “We brake for fish” campaign.
The ad series showcases the unique traits and capabilities of its product while also promoting a sense of ecological awareness. This approach was remarkably ahead of its time.
Historically, car manufacturers have disregarded sustainability when it comes to advertising–some have even poked fun at it. In his book Do Good Design: How Designers Can Change the World, designer David B. Berman points to an advertisement for the Mazda 6 which features the tagline, “Insects call it ‘the widowmaker’.”
The ad presents violence against insect populations as the inevitable consequence of driving a car, posing environmental consciousness as antithetical to comfort and efficiency. Berman summarizes Mazda’s message as a pledge to “boost your confidence, as you master weaker things” (4). The idea is that car owners–that is, 92% of the American population–cannot peacefully coexist with our ecosystem. The “man-versus-nature” theme places the product in direct opposition to the health of our planet, implying that, by purchasing a Mazda vehicle, the customer is taking up arms against the environment.
The “man-versus-nature” theme places the product in direct opposition to the health of our planet.
This kind of messaging is not only irresponsible; it is also becoming more and more ineffective. The public’s awareness of environmental issues is changing, and, even more importantly, so are its attitudes. In today’s market, sustainability has risen to the top of consumers’ considerations when selecting a product. Furthermore, purchases are no longer seen as purely individualist decisions. Many modern customers feel that, by patronizing a business, they are choosing to support that business’s practices and values. This means that customers are willing to conduct more intensive research into where they spend their money. The Internet allows anyone to see beyond ad campaigns to the truth about how companies operate.
With Google at everyone’s fingertips, one can easily uncover the history of a brand’s practices. Advertisers who distort reality and conceal vital information about their products and practices lack authenticity, which has proven to be one of the most important traits in the eyes of modern generations. Thus, when a company like Mazda does a 180 and begins pitching themselves as a “green” brand, consumers are not going to take them at face value. This pitfall is known as “greenwashing,” the phenomenon in which a company attempts to deceive their customers by presenting themselves as eco-friendly when their operations are explicitly damaging to the environment. Egregious forms of greenwashing can be a permanent stain on a brand, forever tainting their public perception.
Greenwashing can be a permanent stain on a brand, forever tainting their public perception.
Take, for example, the upscale bottled-water brand Fiji. In the late 2000s, Fiji Water came under fire for their exploitative and destructive business practices. Detractors noted the particular irony of the corporation trademarking the name of a country while depleting that country’s natural resources. Fiji responded to the criticism in 2007 by launching a reforestation program aimed at restoring deteriorated land in the Nakauvadra mountain range. They claimed that, by 2010, they would have planted enough trees to offset the carbon emissions of their manufacturing and export operations, making the brand officially carbon-negative. They punctuated the announcement with the launch of an enormous new advertising initiative, the now-infamous “Every drop is green” campaign.
The slogan drew much attention from consumers, but not the kind that Fiji Water was anticipating. Both professionals like Berman and the general public identified the marketing as insincere, and it only served to highlight the discrepancy between the company’s claims and its actual practices. They were even sued over the claims in 2010, the defendant asserting that she would not have paid the premium prices had she known that their “carbon-negative” branding was inaccurate. Even today, over a decade later, the Fiji Water company has not fulfilled the hefty promises that they made back in 2007, and their website has removed all mention of the Nakauvadra Forest Carbon Project.
Meanwhile, Land Rover has made substantial efforts to back up their reputation as an environmentally conscious manufacturer. In 2015, they began advertising a new driving program called “Eco Mode,” which reduces the fuel consumption and power usage in a vehicle. They have carried the development of Eco Mode into the 2020s and expanded its application in several new models. In 2021, the company launched their Defender Above & Beyond Service Awards, which awarded seven non-profits with Land Rover Defender models customized to suit their specific needs. The seven categories included Coastal and Marine Conservation, Animal Welfare, and Environmental organizations.
Video announcement by One Tree Planted, the winner in the “Environmental” category of Land Rover’s Above & Beyond Service Awards
From 2016 to 2020, online searches for sustainable products increased by 71%, reflecting how shoppers are no longer basing their choices off of the narratives presented by brands. If you Google “Fiji water sustainability” today, the first page of results is overwhelmingly negative (while the opposite is true for Land Rover). Few companies have the money and manpower of a major corporation like Fiji; most would never survive that level of public backlash. Designers and marketers have leverage that they did not have before; we have concrete evidence that environmental consciousness matters not only in advertising but in practices as well. We must show leaders that hollow marketing will not be enough.
As designers, we have a responsibility to advocate for our ecosystem and to redirect our colleagues to more sustainable and eco-friendly final products. We should familiarize ourselves with concepts like environmental minimalism so that we can apply these concepts in the creation of our ads. When your priority is designing an ad that makes a real positive impact, you know you’re working toward a great campaign.
