Greenwashing Tactic #8: Design & Words

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Using design principles and greenwashing language in order to trigger emotional and unconscious responses in consumers

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Greenwashing: Design Principles

Greenwashing Design Example: Palm Done Right

Greenwashing Design Example: WWF Palm Oil Scorecard 2021

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Greenwashing with Words: Vegan Versus Plant-Based

Greenwashing with Words: Destructive Global Brands Claiming to be Vegan

What is Veganism?

Greenwashing with Words and Phrases that Signal ‘Greenness’

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Explore the Series

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Further reading: greenwashing and deceptive marketing

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Hand-drawn typography and fonts.

Pastel colours or blue and green hues.

Hand-drawn or vintage and nostalgic animals and children illustrations in packaging and advertising design that bring to mind children’s books.

Happy, uplifting and nostalgic music.

Visual storytelling involving nature.

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Green clothing, natural ambient noise and reassuring happy colours set the scene for storytelling by Palm Done Right

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Dr Jennifer Lucy’s research, which is funded by the RSPO and industry sets out the minimum amount of rainforest that can be left over for endangered species by the palm oil industry.

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Forest-inspired pie charts and hand-drawn icons tell the story of RSPO members in the 2021 WWF Palm Oil Scorecard

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The WWF scorecard ranks RSPO member supermarket brands according to whether or not they have stopped with deforestation or other corrupt practices.

The WWF scorecard uses phrases like:

“9% of respondents have a deforestation and conversion free commitment.”

“88% of respondents have a human rights commitment”

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What this means in reality…is absolutely nothing.

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Global brands are now claiming ‘eco-friendly’ status by saying that their products are vegan. This is despite these same brands causing global ecocide for palm oil, putting at risk thousands of endangered species

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This hijacking of the vegan label is deeply problematic for many vegans. They are all too aware of the devastation of palm oil on rainforest ecosystems and endangered forest species. Most environmentally aware vegans DO NOT agree that palm oil is vegan. The definition of veganism is not only if an ingredient is ‘plant-based.’

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Veganism is the strong rejection of all cruelty, death and slavery of animals. Palm oil is a global scourge to all tropical animal species – it is therefore NOT VEGAN.

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Palm oil is plant-based, so why isn’t it vegan?

Endorsement of palm oil as a vegan ingredient is both lazy and greedy on behalf of vegan organisations like Peta and the Vegan Society. These animal organisations receive sponsorship funding from corporates to endorse products containing palm oil. This ignores the immense global damage of palm oil. For any serious animal activist and vegan – veganism means more than a product being simply plant-based.

Veganism is:

A philosophy and a consumer lifestyle of avoidance of brands and products where these brands or products cause harm to animals. This harm could be:

• Animal murder for human consumption.
• The enslavement of animals for the benefit of humans.
• Cruelty, violence or murder of animals for human entertainment or sport.
• Animal testing or experimentation that benefits humans.
• The destruction of rainforests where the highest concentration of endangered species live, for palm oil, meat, soy or other commodities in order to create consumer products.

True veganism is a philosophy that respects and appreciates all ecosystems and the lives of non-human beings within them. It does not make excuses for ecocide and animal extinction, just for the sake of cheap supermarket goods.

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These words trigger automatic, emotional and unconscious responses in consumers. Language works effortlessly in conjunction with greenwashing design to hit the right emotional buttons and to have a positive and rewarding emotional effect on consumers’ minds

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