Major Corporations: Unethical Business Practices and the Use of Greenwashing

Photo by Brian Yurasits on Unsplash

In modern times, especially with the avid use of social media in a consumerist culture, more and more companies (especially clothing stores) have been exposed to unethical business practices. Mainstream clothing stores, such as H&M, have been reported to use child labor to manufacture their products for low costs, thus selling their items cheap since the cost of labor was much lower than what it would usually be. Not only have stores that sell relatively cheap clothing been reported to utilize unethical business practices but reputable stores such as Nike have also been discovered to use labor from Ughyur concentration camps in China. With all of the backlash, public relations teams for the stores turn to greenwashing to “wrong their rights,” and to earn back their reputation.

Greenwashing refers to the active advertisement of environmentally friendly practices (such as recycling, composting, and using biodegradable ingredients) to appear more politically correct in the eyes of the consumer, especially when other methods of production are shown to be questionable. When companies greenwash to seem more sustainable, not only are they generating more revenue for themselves, but they are not actually doing anything. At its core, greenwashing is just a marketing ploy, and has not actually led to any meaningful changes in the manufacturing of products that have been shown to cause various environmental issues. For example, H&M announced the company will launch an environmentally friendly clothing line. The advertisement of the “Conscious” brand conveniently makes users forget that H&M is one of the largest contributors to the fast fashion culture, which results in 80% of all discarded textiles being thrown into landfills. Additionally, the Norwegian Customer Authority revealed that the “Conscious” line was “misleading, and the information given regarding sustainability was not sufficient, especially given that the Conscious Collection is advertised as a collection with environmental benefits.”

The role of combating unethical business and labor practices by major corporations falls to the laps of consumers themselves. Only through active speaking out against companies such as Nike and H&M will the status quo change. Although it can be difficult to discern between greenwashing and actual steps towards a more environmentally friendly textile industry, one needs to look between the lines to recognize the unfortunate truth. As citizens of the world, it is our responsibility to stand up for not only the Earth but for those who are being taken advantage of with unethical labor practices.