pp. 28-30<\/p>\n
Swati Mishra1 and Abhishek Mishra2
\n1Assist. Professor, International School of Business Management, Suresh Gyan Vihar University; Jaipur
\n2 Director (Creation), Suresh Gyan Vihar University, Jaipur
\n*Corresponding Author email: swati.mishra@mygyanvihar.com<\/p>\n
ABSTRACT<\/strong> Keywords<\/strong>: Washing, consumers, companies<\/p>\n INTRODUCTION<\/strong> L\u2019Or\u00e9al, on the other hand, had been severely\u00a0criticized by activists for allegedly testing its\u00a0cosmetics on animals, exploiting the sexuality of\u00a0women and selling its products by making\u00a0women feel insecure.[5]<\/p>\n Customers said that they felt betrayed. They called\u00a0for a boycott of Body Shop\u2019s products. It was\u00a0also a major windfall for its founder Dame\u00a0Anita Roddick.[5]<\/p>\n Body Shop was one of the first companies to\u00a0publish its \u2018Various Report\u2019 in 1996. Through\u00a0these initiatives, the company had cultivated a\u00a0loyal customer base who shared these values of\u00a0the company. Roddick had previously been quite\u00a0bold and loud in her criticism of companies like\u00a0L\u2019Or\u00e9al. Body Shop was regarded as one among\u00a0the first firms in the world to publish a proper\u00a0report on its social responsibility initiatives.In\u00a0addition to social activism, inat work internal\u00a0audit programs were conducted at Body Shop for\u00a0Environmental protection, health & safety at work\u00a0and monitoring of \u2018Against Animal Testing\u00a0Policy\u2019.<\/p>\n Body Shop in 1996, presented the European\u00a0Union with a petition signed by over 4,000,000\u00a0people, which at the time was the largest petition\u00a0against animal testing. They were instrumental in\u00a0U.K. government\u2019s decision in 1998 to ban\u00a0animal testing for cosmetic products and\u00a0ingredients. Later they were accused of being\u00a0hypocrites. Some analysts felt that the acquisition\u00a0was an attempt by L\u2019Or\u00e9al to buy CSR. Many\u00a0big organizations have bought smaller model\u00a0ethical corporations.<\/p>\n Talking about this shift in the paradigm where\u00a0many multi-national giants tend to get associated\u00a0with or even acquire the smaller companies\u00a0which have adopted the green ways or sustainable\u00a0options.[6][7] Every consumer is now demanding\u00a0credibility & sustainability and hence in the\u00a0quest of boosting their sustainable \/ green image\u00a0they do not actually change their own practices \/\u00a0policies but just acquire the smaller & greener\u00a0ventures. One such example is the buyout of the\u00a0environmentally progressive Vermont Icecream\u00a0venture Ben & Jerry\u2019s Inc..[8] And now the game\u00a0is becoming never ending wherein the global\u00a0giants are working hard to bring all such\u00a0benevolent ventures under their umbrella. Another\u00a0master of acquisitions is Nestle which has\u00a0acquired a series of such companies one of them\u00a0being Sweet Leaf Tea Co., acquired in 2011.[8]<\/p>\n Similarly, Colgate – Palmolive Company has\u00a0acquired Tom\u2019s of Maine Inc. in 2006 and Dean\u00a0Foods Company bought Horizon Organic Holding\u00a0Corporation under its umbrella in 2004.[8] Such\u00a0type of acquisitions not only help the big food\u00a0giants and other multinational to remove the\u00a0smaller competitors from the market but also\u00a0help them in changing the customer perception by\u00a0showcasing themselves as socially responsible and\u00a0friendly towards the environment.[8]<\/p>\n These kind of takeover can somehow help the\u00a0organizations create a superficial impact on the\u00a0image of the organizations and might help them\u00a0give them a chance to declare themselves as\u00a0socially responsible and sustainable with making\u00a0any extra effort in their very own practices. Rob\u00a0Straughan, associate dean of the Williams School\u00a0of Commerce, Economics, and Politics at\u00a0Washington and Lee University in Lexington,\u00a0Virginia states that a company can really benefit\u00a0well if and only if the new CSR practices and\u00a0policy changes are acquired by the parent\u00a0company after the acquisition.[8] Hence these\u00a0practices can only give a Green Washing Effect\u00a0but no strength to the organization in their\u00a0sustainable claims. And whom are we deceiving,\u00a0our very own \u2018Brand Loyals\u2019?<\/p>\n According to the Sustainability Report, 2013[9] the\u00a0consumers are ready to pay extra premium to the\u00a0small businesses for the products which match\u00a0their ideologies. But the problem that lies with\u00a0them is that they cannot promote their firm and\u00a0products that heavily due to shortage of funds as\u00a0compared to the other giants which promote\u00a0themselves to be green even if they are not as\u00a0vigorously working towards green practices as the\u00a0smaller businesses are. Recently a new term has\u00a0been devised called as \u201cGreen Stickiness\u201d which\u00a0actually refers to the tendencies of the consumers\u00a0to stick to the green brands but that doesn\u2019t\u00a0mean that this green stickiness can be acquired\u00a0by acquiring green businesses.[9] Consumers today\u00a0are well informed of every company\u2019s depth of\u00a0involvement in green practices and hence they\u00a0can differentiate between the genuine green\u00a0practices and \u201cGreen Washing\u201d. Hence, today no\u00a0matter what justifications Body Shop may present And hence even though how much any\u00a0organization tries to green wash it\u2019s dark\u00a0unsustainable mall practices it should be sure\u00a0about a downfall because how far and how\u00a0much you can deceive a consumer. That is why\u00a0the title of this case study is so sarcastic calling\u00a0Green Washing as a perfect deception for the\u00a0consumers.<\/p>\n REFERENCES<\/strong>: \u00a02. Motavalli, Jim (2011-02-12). “A History of\u00a0Greenwashing: How Dirty Towels Impacted\u00a0the Green Movement pp. 28-30 Swati Mishra1 and Abhishek Mishra2 1Assist. Professor, International School of Business Management, Suresh Gyan Vihar University; Jaipur 2 Director (Creation), Suresh Gyan Vihar University, Jaipur *Corresponding Author email: swati.mishra@mygyanvihar.com ABSTRACT \u201cIt is a perfect deception when you can lie to yourself and believe it.\u201d(Michelle Horst, Vaalbar, The Land Of\u00a0Shadows). Consumers have always been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal-of-environment-science-and-technology","category-volume-2-issue-1-2016-journal-of-environment-science-and-technology"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n\u201cIt is a perfect deception when you can lie to yourself and believe it.\u201d(Michelle Horst, Vaalbar, The Land Of\u00a0Shadows). Consumers have always been surrounded by different schools of thought. At one side are the firms\u00a0which are putting up their \u201cgreen claims\u201d where in they assert upon being environmentally conscious and\u00a0walking on the path of sustainability and on the other hand is a totally different school of thought which\u00a0brings forward the ugly reality of \u201cGreen Washing\u201d where environmental devastation is promoted as\u00a0sustainable growth to the consumers. For e.g. when the flat panel T.V.s replaced the T.V.s with picture\u00a0tube they claimed to be totally lead free which is a toxic element whereas the truth is that they were\u00a0actually green washing the fact that the flat panel T.V.s contain mercury bulb which is highly toxic\u00a0itself.[1] And in the quest of promoting itself as a environmentally friendly organization the companies are\u00a0not actually changing their own practices but are just acquiring smaller firms which are managing\u00a0environmentally friendly practices. This case study tries to discusses the Green Washing deception for the\u00a0consumers created by a big brand. Though the consumers are increasingly getting conscious about\u00a0environmental safety but the companies still have a long way to go in the quest of becoming Green! Till\u00a0then is it right to keep the consumers under deception?<\/p>\n
\nGreen Washing is a term which was designed and\u00a0for the first time used by Jay Westervelt, a US\u00a0based environmentalist in 1986. It was actually\u00a0used as a sarcasm to depict the hoteliers\u00a0encouraging to use their towels more than once\u00a0in order to save the environment instead of\u00a0actually making an effort towards avoiding the\u00a0wastage of water, unreasonable use of electricity,\u00a0wastage of food, over use of wooden furniture\u00a0which causes major deforestation. [2] [3]\u00a0March 2006, The Body Shop International Plc.\u00a0(Body Shop), a retailer of natural-based and\u00a0ethically sourced beauty products, announced that\u00a0it had agreed to an acquisition by beauty giant\u00a0L\u2019Or\u00e9al in a cash deal worth \u00a3 652 million.[4]\u00a0Since, its inception it had endorsed and\u00a0championed various social issues such as
\nopposition to animal testing, developing\u00a0community trade, building self-esteem,\u00a0campaigning for human rights and protection of\u00a0planet earth.<\/p>\n
\nbut still it has surely lost all the claims on the\u00a0green stickiness of its very own customers which\u00a0made them it\u2019s brand loyal. That is why an\u00a0investigative article \u201cShattered Image: Is The Body\u00a0Shop Too Good to Be True?\u201d [11] published in\u00a0Business Ethics magazine led to a drop in the\u00a0market size of Body Shop by 50% and in fact\u00a0led to the growth hundreds of stories on the\u00a0related matter covered by different magazines\u00a0including the front page of the business section\u00a0New York Times.[10] Such controversies once\u00a0fallen into are like a crack in a China Cup it can\u00a0be fixed with the adhesive but the mark always\u00a0remains.<\/p>\n
\n1.\u00a0“Toxic TVs”. Electronics TakeBack\u00a0Coalition. Retrieved 13 April 2010.<\/p>\n
\n3. “Beware of green marketing, warns\u00a0Greenpeace exec”. ABS-CBN News. 2008-09-17. Retrieved 2014.
\n4. L’Oreal buys Body Shop for \u00a3652m”. The\u00a0Independent (London). 17 March 2006.\u00a0Retrieved 25 May 2010
\n5. The Body Shop: Social Responsibility or\u00a0Sustained Greenwashing?- Case Study;\u00a0http:\/\/www.icmrindia.org\/casestudies\/catalogue\/Business%20Ethics\/BECG067.htm;\u00a0Retrieved on 22nd Dec. 2014.
\n6. “The Body Shop”. The Body Shop. 25\u00a0February 2011. Retrieved 9 December 2011
\n7. “The Body Shop: Values Report”.Retrieved 30 April 2006.
\n8. Connor Adams Sheets, 18th Dec. 2014, Big\u00a0Food Acquires Green Companies to\u00a0boost Sustainability, But does it work?;International Business Times (extracted\u00a0from http:\/\/www.ibtimes.com\/big-foodacquires-green-companies-boostsustainability-does-it-work-1673110)P)
\n9. Big Green Opportunity Report for small\u00a0business in U.S., The Sustainability\u00a0Report, 2013 pg 05-06
\n10. “The Body Shop: Jon Entine writes on\u00a0sustainability, corporate responsibility,\u00a0DNA, race, and Jewish identity”.
\nJonentine.com.; Retrieved 9 Dec. 2014.
\n11. The myth of the Green Queen by National\u00a0Post;\u00a0http:\/\/www.nationalpost.com\/news\/story.ht\u00a0ml; Retrieved on 19 Dec. 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"