The climate crisis has already become a global issue, and people's concern for the environment has increased accordingly. It is difficult to solve the climate crisis with individual actions alone, so countries and corporations must step in to change people's behavior patterns in order to stop climate change. Eco-friendliness has become one of the marketing strategies for companies. Reusable tumblers, plastic label-free bottled water, and recyclable packaging have become popular, giving consumers more options to consider the environment during the purchase process.

These changes seem to be very good on the surface. But are the products we buy and think of as eco-friendly really eco-friendly?

There is a term called 'Green Washing'. It is derived from 'White Washing', which means racism in casting white actors for roles that are not originally white characters. So what is greenwashing? Greenwashing refers to making a product appear eco-friendly when it is not.

A good example is Starbucks' reusable tumbler. It is natural that using a tumbler is more environmentally friendly than a disposable cup. However, if you mass-produce and consume reusable cups, it is no longer an environmentally friendly act. Starbucks held a reusable container giveaway event for drinks in 2021 to commemorate its 50th anniversary. On the surface, it seems environmentally friendly because it does not use plastic disposable cups, but the giveaway reusable cups are made of the same material as plastic. There was controversy that this event actually encouraged consumers to buy more plastic. Although the intention may have been good, Starbucks customers already perceived Starbucks' reusable cups as a type of 'goods', so they could not avoid the controversy of greenwashing, a marketing ploy disguised as environmental protection.

The EU recently introduced a law on greenwashing. This law prohibits companies from marketing themselves as environmentally friendly without any basis. The European Union expects that more than 50% of eco-friendly labeling will disappear due to this law.

Consumers only pay attention to the word 'eco-friendly' written on the surface, and it is difficult to know how the product is actually produced and distributed. This means that consumers can easily be fooled by greenwashing. In addition to the EU mentioned above, the UK, the US, and France are also taking steps to regulate greenwashing. The UK investigated advertisements that claimed to be environmentally friendly without any basis, and the US imposed a $3 million fine on Walmart for greenwashing. France enacted a law requiring companies caught greenwashing to pay 80% of their advertising expenses as a fine.

Greenwashing is a deceptive practice that deceives consumers. Some consumers deliberately choose eco-friendly products at a higher price, and others choose environmentally friendly products at the same price. We need to get rid of the tricks that try to increase profits by taking advantage of the conscience of these consumers.