Analysing The Discursive Tools Employed in Advertisement Campaigns of National and International Commodity Products; Linguistic Exploration of the Phenomenon of Greenwashing

Abstract

Advertisements are considered as a form of persuasive communication employing rhetoric art. It has become a necessity for consumers and producers, to have an idea of what eco-friendly products and services can be catered. This study follows qualitative approach and analyses the discursive techniques and linguistic tools that are being used for greenwashing in selected advertisements, since, the fact that a lot of companies make use of greenwashing has a negative effect on the trust in green products and green advertisements (Chang, 2013; Aji, 2015) and consumers must be enlightened. Greenwashing not only erodes consumer confidence but that it also creates skepticism on green products in general (Aji 2015). Six flyers/ ads of different national and international commodity products’ campaigns make up the data for the present study, selected via purposive sampling. For the analysis, the Wagner and Hansen’s (2002) measurement model for advertising greenness, and TerraChoice’s model (2009) are used as theoretical-frameworks. Some of the linguistics choices found in analysis, are enlisted as follows: natural, organic, eco-friendly, green, sustainable, organically derived, free of allergies, biodegradable, etc., where green claims and print advertisements served as the groundwork for the analyses. Furthermore, findings suggest that the most common sin occurring in the category of household commodity products is the sin of vagueness since all the ads use statements that lack explanatory data of the claims. Additionally, sin of no-proof is found since the verifiable data or certification was not found during the analyses. Moreover, the sin of hidden-tradeoff is found since the product’s greenness is based on a narrow set of attributes, as suggested by analysis, lastly, sin of lesser two evils, the sin of irrelevance, fibbing, worshipping false labels are also employed for greenwashing, as suggested by the analysis. Although green is a symbol of nature, ecology, and the environment; however, it does not imply that the product is inherently ecological, thus it is recommended that this domain needs further exploration in its own right.