83% of shoppers mislead by green & sustainable advertising

// 83% of consumers feel mislead by green & sustainable buzzwords in advertising, research finds

// Organic, eco-friendly and green among most discouraging buzzwords

// Phrases such as “powered by nature” discourage 67% of shoppers

New research has placed retailers at the centre of “greenwashing”, whereby a company spends more on marketing themselves as environmentally friendly than actually minimising their environmental impact.

Online retailer OnBuy conducted a survey of 3446 participants to find out what consumers think.

Findings revealed that the most misunderstood green and sustainable buzzwords were “low-VOC”, with 96 per cent of participants unsure of its meaning, “net-zero”, “carbon negative”, “clean” and “green.”

READ MORE: Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield achieves top score for climate action

More key findings showed that 83 per cent of customers feel misled by green and sustainable buzzwords in retail advertising.

Ninety per cent of consumers think retailers need to be more transparent about how green their stock is.

Fifty five per cent of consumers said they would challenge retailers on their sustainability if they were unsure on their policy.

Seventy six per cent of consumers think they need more education about what is and isn’t sustainable.

When asked “do you think retailers who use green and sustainable buzzwords have a genuine interest in sustainability?” 62 per cent of respondents said sometimes, 38 per cent said no and zero per cent said yes.

The survey also revealed that biodegradable, recycled and recyclable were among 10 green and sustainable buzzwords which encourage consumers to purchase.

Powered by nature, organic and eco-friendly were among 10 green and sustainable buzzwords which discourage consumers to purchase.

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