Getting the mad men of advertising interested in sustainability 15 years ago was impossible…no one cared, it wasn’t sexy enough and it just didn’t sell. How times have changed. From McDonalds to British Gas and Carlsberg, sustainability advertising has now gone mainstream.

In the era of expectation that we’re now living, while the number of brands jumping on this bandwagon has exploded, it hasn’t necessarily meant that they all stand up to the claims they’re making.

Recognising this Say-Do gap, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) came out in September 2021 stating it would launch inquiries to analyse environmental claims made by companies and would issue new guidance to ensure ads don’t mislead. In parallel, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) coordinated a global review of randomly selected websites and found that 40% of green claims made online could be misleading consumers. It then issued its own Green Claims Code, providing guidance for substantiation of claims.

Since then, various sectors and specific brands have felt their force. In January 2022, the CMA announced a crackdown on greenwashing within the fashion industry.  After banning a Lipton tea ad early in 2021, which claimed its plastic bottles were "100% recycled plastic" (while the small print explained that did not include the lid or label), in February the ASA also declared an advert from Innocent Drinks – which relays the message that buying the company’s products will have a positive environmental impact – as misleading.

It’s not just the authorities taking note and acting. Consumers are getting savvier, too. Thanks to the noise made by environmental activists and stories in the media, they are more attuned than ever to greenwashing red flags. According to the BBC, ASA says that “false claims and vague language” is the area it receives the most complaints about, such as a recent Oatly ad – which means consumers are switching on to misleading claims about products being  “natural”, “organic” or “eco-friendly”. They are also being encouraged to be wary of green buzzwords used without evidence; hidden information about supply chains; and claims of “carbon offsetting” used in place of limiting emissions.

The message is therefore clear for brands – it’s no longer acceptable to enhance, over-simplify, take out of context or leave out the detail when it comes to your sustainability claims. Alter the way you advertise or face court action. 

So what does a brand do – how can it achieve the holy grail of making its sustainability messages simple, impactful and ultimately achieve behaviour change amongst its target audience, whilst minimising accusations of greenwash?

The first challenge is getting everyone in the room – this isn’t a job for just the marketers. It needs your sustainability team and those people with the hard data.  You need to listen to each other, collaborate and, most importantly, challenge, to ensure you’ve got the rigorous evidence to back-up what you’re saying.  Within this mix, you also need to work out what makes you stand out vs others. It’s not enough to go big about something that’s purely compliance.  And, if you don’t have something, perhaps this is a chance to confront as a collective what your business does and how far it’s willing to change for the better, not just challenge what it says.        

We’re in a new era of advertising where the temptation for a brand to differentiate itself via its sustainability credentials is strong. However, if you decide to shout about it, you can no longer rely on the perceived naivety of consumers (and the authorities), meaning anything goes.  Ultimately, the focus shouldn’t be on keeping up appearances in a changing world, but on genuinely helping consumers make well-informed decisions that can help tackle the climate emergency and protect the planet.