Consumers find it hard to distinguish between 'greenwashing' and sustainable brands

Study found when consumers were trained to spot greenwashing claims — when marketing uses spin to convince the public their product or service is more environmentally friendly than it is — it led to greater suspicion of claims that were genuine.

Consumers struggle to tell the difference between adverts that make genuine claims about being environmentally friendly and ones that are “ greenwashing” to mislead them, a new study has found.

The joint study by the ESRI and Trinity College Dublin, funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, found when consumers were trained to spot greenwashing claims — when marketing uses spin to convince the public their product or service is more environmentally friendly than it is — it led to greater suspicion of claims that were genuine.