The first section of this paper looks specifically at the concept of greenwashing from a theoretical perspective. It aims to establish exactly what greenwashing is, what it involves and how it has been used. The second section incorporates both the first section of this paper, and delves deeper into how greenwashing has been present in social media. The third section of this paper is a case study. This section has been broken down into three categories of industries in consideration of greenwashing practises. The first is ‘The Obvious’ - this looks at the obvious examples of industries that use greenwashing practises. ‘The Overlooked’ looks at the industries which are often disregarded in terms of greenwashing practises. The last is ‘The Unexpected’ which looks into the industries that focus on supporting the environment and would not commonly be associated with any form of greenwashing practises at all. This case study aims to identify how the selected companies chosen for the study have been associated with greenwashing in the past, and how their current social presence may still be contributing to greenwashed advertising. As the concept of greenwashing is based on a theory developed around two decades ago and mostly consisted of very direct claims and statements using traditional advertising mediums such as billboards and magazine adverts, and considering the amount of well-known corporations who were proven guilty of such greenwashing practises, it would be ignorant to consider that such practises have simply subsided and ceased to occur. Corporations are aware of being called-out with negative press, especially with regards to issues such as false environmental practises, therefore as the advertising industry has changed with time, wouldn’t such greenwashing practises have adapted as well? Corporations in the past have learnt that direct greenwash statements have backfired negatively, therefore in collaboration with the use of social media, the prospect of using subtle, or even subconscious greenwash strategies seem to create an issue which requires investigation.

This study focuses on sustainability information and consumers’ attitude and perception of sustainability information in the footwear industry. Sustainability has become increasingly important in the fashion industry; thus, the footwear industry has not reached the same level of interest and attention. In addition, companies do not know how to communicate sustainability and sustainability information and therefore, green marketing has evolved as an opportunity for companies to communicate sustainability. However, the downside of green marketing is that it can be perceived as untrustworthy and mistaken for greenwashing. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to understand consumers’ attitude and perception of sustainability and sustainability information in the footwear industry. To reach a suitable customer segment, a collaboration with Vagabond Shoemakers was initiated. This enabled the data collection to be held in the Vagabond Store in Gothenburg via a selfcompletion questionnaire. The data was analysed quantitatively via regression analysis in IBM SPSS Statistics. The regression analysis shows several significant correlations between dependent and independent variables such as the consumers’ attitude towards sustainability in general and their attitude towards sustainability information in the footwear industry. The result proves that the consumers are interested in receiving sustainability information when purchasing footwear. However, the consumers do not believe they receive enough sustainability information in either brick-and-mortar retail stores or online. Despite that the consumers of this study tend to believe that sustainability information in general is trustworthy, they do not believe that sustainability information in the footwear industry is trustworthy. This is unfortunate as the consumers of this study show interest in and value sustainability information and believe it is an important aspect when purchasing footwear. The result of this study contributes to anunderstanding of consumers’ perception and attitude towards sustainability information in thefootwear industry. This can be a foundation for developing green marketing strategies that companies can utilise so as to educate and inform consumers about sustainability and sustainable development. By utilising green marketing as a communication tool, companies have the possibility to affect consumers’ attitude, intention and behaviour towards sustainable consumption.

No description available.

Företag verksamma inom modebranschen har idag en stor förväntan från omvärlden att agera hållbart i de handlingar de genomför. De senaste åren har kunskapen från konsumenterna ökat gällande de globala hållbara problemen inom de sociala, ekonomiska och ekologiska sektionerna. I denna studie identifieras hur svenska modeföretag praktiserar hållbar marknadsföring, samt hur faktorerna varumärke, transparens samt greenwashing inom hållbar marknadsföring påverkar förtroendet för modekonsumenter tillhörande generation Y. En teoretisk referensram upprättades med en teoretisk modell om hur de olika faktorerna påverkar förtroendet hos konsumenterna. Data som ligger som underlag till analysen samlades in genom intervjuer med de tre svenska modeföretagen H&M, ARKET och Nudie Jeans samt två fokusgrupper med konsumenter tillhörande generation Y. I analysen framgår det hur de svenska modeföretagen använder sig av direkt respektive indirekt kommunikation av det hållbarhetsarbete som de bedriver. Dessutom framgår det ur studiens analys att varumärke samt transparens påverkar förtroendet från konsumenter i generation Y positivt, men att greenwashing påverkar förtroendet negativt. / Companies that are currently operating in the fashion industry have strong expectations from the outside world to act sustainable in their actions. In recent years, the consumer knowledge regarding the sustainable problems in the social, economic and ecological sectors have increased. This study identifies how Swedish fashion companies practice green marketing, and how brand, transparency and greenwashing as factors in sustainable marketing affect the trust of consumers belonging to generation Y. A theoretical framework was established with a theoretical model on how the various factors affect consumer trust. The data that the analysis of the study was based up on, was collected through interviews with the three Swedish fashion companies H&M, ARKET and Nudie Jeans, as well as two focus groups with consumers belonging to generation Y. The analysis shows how the selected Swedish fashion companies use direct and indirect communication in their sustainability work. Additionally, it is shown from the study's analysis that branding and transparency affect consumer trust positively, but that greenwashing has a negative effect on consumer trust.

Date: 2020-06-09 Level: Master thesis in Business Administration, 15 cr  Institution: School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University  Authors: Lisa Eriksson (91/08/31) Lana Rasool (97/02/23)  Title: Keen to be green? Consumer perceptions of green advertising in the skincare industry Tutor: Konstantin Lampou Keywords: Green advertisements, green perceived risk, green trust, green skincare, green marketing, green content.  Research- questions: How do consumers perceive green content in advertisements?  What aspects create perceptions of trust? What aspects create perceptions of risks? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how consumers perceive green advertising practices in the skincare industry and what aspects affect perceptions of trust and risks. Method: The study was conducted through a qualitative approach by performing focus groups. Data was analyzed through a thematic analysis. Conclusion: The research indicate that there are several aspects that lead to consumer perception of trust and perceived risk when consumers view green advertisements. Six main themes that included different aspects were identified.

ABSTRACT   Date:                                  2020-06-06   Level:                                 Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration, 15 cr   Institution:   School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University   Authors:         Elina Nurmi                         Julia Darnéus Ekeroth   Natasha Milner             (1993-01-08)                              (1996-07-24)                                  (1998-05-05)   Title:                                  Investigating the ‘Greenness’ of Young Consumers   Tutor:                                David Freund   Keywords:  Environmental concern, green marketing, green consumer, green scepticism, green purchase decision. Research Question: How can environmental concern, exposure to green marketing and green scepticism influence young consumers’ green purchase decisions?   Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how young consumers’ green purchase decisions can be influenced by their environmental concern, exposure to green marketing and lastly, green scepticism. It will be analysed if consumers are now overexposed to green marketing, whether there is an action/awareness gap, and lastly, the number of green consumers in the sample will be established.   Method: Primary data was collected through a quantitative research method, via a self-completion online questionnaire. The chosen sample was Swedes, aged 18-30 and consisted of 140 respondents. IBM SPSS Statistics was used for the statistical tests undertaken such as Cronbach’s Alpha, Chi-square, Pearson’s correlation and Regression analysis.   Conclusion: Environmental concern and green scepticism were found to have a significant influence on the young Swedish consumers’ green purchase decision. A great deal of the sample possessed environmental concern, and it was found to influence their green purchase decision positively. The participants were not sceptical of green marketing, and green scepticism was found to significantly and negatively influence their green purchases. Finally, the young Swedes were minimally underexposed to green marketing with a slight negative, but insignificant, influence on green purchase decisions.

The environmental sustainability challenges faced by society represent a discontinuity that requires new systemic ways of thinking and approaching problems. For business and consumers this entails finding new ways of creating value. In this respect, this study argues that an important source of value lies in efficient service co-creation between business and consumers in the consumption process. To this end, this study set out to explore the potential of business-to-consumer co-creation to advance solutions to sustainable consumption in the grocery retail setting. Exploratory qualitative research was conducted with grocery retailers and environmentally conscious consumers to gain insights into the types of initiatives that are important with respect to sustainable consumption. The willingness of business and consumers to work together to co-create solutions was gauged, and potential processes and mechanisms for co-creation were explored. The research found that both grocery retailers and consumers recognise sustainability as a systemic issue and welcomed the notion of co-creating solutions. However, the overarching narrative of the research findings with respect to the how of co-creation is that the market may not yet be ready. Retailers are driving sustainability initiatives across the supply chain, with consumers occupying a relatively passive role. This study argues that co-creation represents a fundamentally new paradigm that poses the challenge of a new orientation for the business-to-consumer relationship. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Abstract Background   The furniture industry is depending on natural resources, which are threatened by both consumption and climate change. Therefore, companies need to understand their responsibility for sustainable development and preserving the resources to operate in the future. Moreover, the consumption behaviour within the furniture industry has changed drastically over the last decade. For this reason, companies could utilize ‘Green Marketing’ as a marketing tool to promote and provide consumers with the environmental benefits of products and services. However, companies need to be careful since they are at risk of being accused of greenwashing and lose consumer trust.   Purpose                      To examine how furniture companies in Sweden are using green marketing to make an impact on consumer behaviour. The research seeks to create a deeper understanding of how furniture companies are attempting to influence consumers towards a sustainable behaviour.   Method A qualitative approach was implemented by conducting five semi-structured interviews with marketing managers at furniture companies in Sweden.   Conclusion The authors have found that furniture companies aim to influence consumers towards making more sustainable choices. Furthermore, the respondents aimed to do this by applying sustainable marketing practices with an environmental focus. However, considering the theory of green marketing provided in this study, it is possible to confirm that the companies’ sustainable marketing practices cannot be defined as green marketing.

Background: The food industry has become one of the key actors in today’s sustainability equation. Consumers are becoming more conscious than ever before, putting more thought into ingredients and packaging. The number one trend of 2020 is clean label food, thus inviting for research within this specific field.    Purpose: This thesis aims to investigate the role of sustainable consumption in clean label food purchasing. In addition, exploring why consumers purchase clean label food products.    Method: This study follows a deductive interpretivist approach based on ten qualitative semi-structured interviews. The research is based on the Censydiam framework on human motivations, and the results are analyzed, compared, and tailored to this model.    Results: There is a strong implication that those who consume sustainably are also very likely to purchase clean label food products. The main reason why people purchase clean label food products is Expertise. Taking care, Safe Choices, and Boost Energy are also prominent motivations.

Background: Online platforms have nowadays been more developed and used by the population. For this reason, companies use to share more information through them. Moreover, the interest in sustainability also increases by people. Therefore, companies are trying to communicate sustainability through different techniques and actions.   Problem: we have noticed that companies create different content depending on which social media are they communicating. For this reason, we found interesting to look for how companies communicate sustainably.   Purpose: the purpose of this thesis is to answer the question about how companies communicate sustainability through social media. Moreover, the thesis aims to contribute to the existing knowledge.   Method: To answer this question the researchers conducted a multiple case study of three companies that communicate sustainability through the different 4 online platforms studied (Website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter).   Results: the main result find by conducting the research is in how companies place the product in order to communicate sustainability, as some of them place it as a protagonist and some others do not.