Greenwashing: A Fiji Water Story - YouTube

Walk into any grocery store, and you're bound to see it green marketing

It seems to be almost everywhere these days. Our eggs are all natural and our shampoos are encased in green labels

adorned with leaves and generic trees. In many respects, this push towards an eco-friendly or

Consumerism is a positive change. Organic produce and sustainably-made clothing are needed if we are to reduce

industrial and personal footprints

But unfortunately, hidden among these ethically and environmentally driven products lies an insidious form of advertising.

Greenwashing.

From bath products to meat packaging greenwashing occurs in almost every sector of the

Consumer market. But today, let's take a close look at how Fiji water uses ad campaigns to construct a green image around its otherwise

environmentally detrimental

company. But first, why exactly is green washing bad?

Quite simply, it plays into a consumer's desire to live a green life without necessarily creating a

sustainable product. And on a deeper level,

one of the greenest things to do is to buy fewer things. So no matter how great the product is

It's probably still kind of deceptive to market it as green.

So greenwashing means using titles like all-natural or eco-friendly

Or simply using a green background in order to entice a customer into buying a product that is by no means

environmentally friendly. In some cases, bigger companies that falsely label their products as eco-friendly,

like eggs labeled farm fresh or all-natural,

can often out-compete smaller companies who are more environmentally

grounded and actually employ ethical practices while creating their product

Fiji water's recent marketing campaign encapsulate the essence of this greenwashing.

Fiji water is a gift

from nature to us, to repay our gift of leaving it completely alone

Bottled at the source, untouched, unmanned

It's Earth finest water

While aesthetically pleasing and pleasant to watch, there are a number of aspects that work hard to shroud Fiji water's large

environmental footprint in a cloud of green. For one, the bright double exposures of nature flickering within the edges of the bottle

immediately cue us to Fiji water's connection to nature, especially when contrasted with the dark

cityscape background. The water bottle appears to be a perfect image of a world

quote-unquote untouched by man. The visuals are then compounded with the narration of a young girl who anchors the ad with this

proclamation: "bottled at the source, untouched by man".

Clearly, this ad works hard to paint Fiji water as a part of Nature, rather than what it really is.

Water, bottled in plastics, that take many years to degrade,

shipped via intensive transportation from Fiji to destinations around the world. Both these practices wreak Havoc on the environment,

including the air and the water. And to bring Fiji's negative impact into sharp relief

47 percent of people who live in Fiji

don't have access to clean safe drinking water, according to the World Health

Organization. This commercial is just a small part of Fiji's larger campaign that attempts to reimagine the bottled water

company of the essence of nature. Spreads like this reveal the larger work at play in Fiji's greenwashed

marketing tactics.

They are pursuing environmentally-minded customers by framing their water bottles as a

completely green product. Fiji tells us a one-sided story that appeals to their customers' moral conscience

You can't help but choose Fiji over other bottled waters because they frame purchasing a Fiji bottle as a way to reduce

carbon emissions and save the Fijian rainforest, when in fact their product is inextricably tied to

assistance of pollution that are causing carbon emissions and deforestation.

Greenwashing comes in many forms, and it's not often as clear-cut as with Fiji water.

So understanding how and why green washing works is essential to spotting a critical

deconstruction of a cleaning product is necessary if you're buying it solely because it's green.

Oftentimes, nature and trees are used to create the impression of an eco-friendly

product, when there's really no substance to back up those claims. So do some research and shop with an intention.

Because the collected power of consumers

can steer companies towards more truthful and ethical products.

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Thanks so much for watching, and I'll see you next Friday