Is it possible to create a favorable impression of greenness on skin care websites?

ABSTRACT

Parallel to the upswing in the modern environmental movement, 5companies and brands have emphasized green attributes and imagery to sell qualities of the natural world. However, consumers have become highly skeptical about green messaging and express distrust toward companies and brands claiming to be green. The web has thus emerged as an effective platform for a company or brand to promote their environmental responsibility. The present study explores this further by taking a qualitative case study approach that deconstructs how three popular skin care brands impress consumers that a brand is green and communicates caring for the environment. The findings show that each brand established a green identity with visuals, color, and text signifying eco-friendly and caring for the environment as part of its web-based communication. However, the analysis discovered noticeable differences in what brands say they do with what they do in which brands aim to lessen their environmental impact.

KEYWORDS:

• Impression management
• CSR
• visual rhetoric
• greenness
• environmental claims
• green messaging
• executional framework

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The U.S. government does not require mandatory regulation of skin care before they go to market. Voluntary watchdog groups like David Suzuki Foundation, Cruelty-Free Kitty, Environmental Working Group, and Skin Care Ox monitor cosmetics, skin care, and hair care products. Also, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry [ATSDR] investigates hazardous substances that may harm health and the environment.

2. SmartLabel is an App and website providing information about food, beverage, personal care, household, and pet care products, http://www.smartlabel.org

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michelle I. Seelig

Michelle I. Seelig is an Associate Professor at the University of Miami in the Department of Interactive Media, where she teaches courses in visual communication, photography, film, interactive media, alternative media and activism, communication theory, and qualitative research methods. Her research focuses extensively on visual and interactive media, particularly how they change the way we communicate and interact in our everyday lives.