“Sustainable” trap: Australian customers shouldn’t continue to pay for greenwashing advertising
Keyword tags: Advertising, Consumer Protection, Environment
With the urgency of pollution problems and the improvement of living standards, Australians are more willing to consume environment-friendly goods, which triggers the greenwashing advertising problem.
Greenwashing refers to companies’ practice of spending significantly more on “green” advertising than on actual environmental movements (Wikipedia, 2025). More brands are keen on adding metaphors in their advertising claims, such as “clean”, “green” and “sustainable”, assisted with green emojis or earthy colours to create “environmental” vibes.
“This is a significant matter because consumers have limited or no ability to independently verify the accuracy of the claims made on packaging, and it also disadvantages competitors who are accurately communicating their environmental credentials,” ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.
Recently, according to ABC News, Clorox, the manufacturer of GLAD garbage bags, was fined $8.25m over misleading ‘ocean plastic’ claims on 2.2 million products after the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission)’s accusations in 2021. It utilised the green ‘50% Ocean Plastic Recycled’ identification to advertise its products as green contributors, but actually, the reused materials were situated up to 50km away from a shoreline, combined with other non-recycled plastic.
Owned by Clorox, GLAD has a range of kitchen products, including storage and disposal bags. (ABC News)
Using meaningless eco-friendly claims in advertising is not a new public issue in Australia. In 2023, ABC News already reported that “most ads are vague, unhelpful, and really unclear”, but this kind of situation is still common now, and more public attention should be gathered, driving stricter regulation to protect customer interest and real green production.
This story will be a news commentary, aiming to raise public awareness of the greenwashing issue. According to the 2024 Gen Z and Millennial Survey (Deloitte, 2024), environmental sustainability remains a top concern for Gen Zs, with 62% of them reporting feeling anxious or worried about climate change, and 64% of Gen Zs are willing to pay more to buy environmentally sustainable products. Therefore, this article will focus on university students’ consumption behaviour. Besides, this commentary will target ABC News, whose primary audience is aged 25-35, aligned with the interviewees’ age to maintain high relevance.
MOO updated its packaging claim from “100% ocean plastic” to “ocean bound plastic”. (ACCC)
To make my commentary more persuasive, I will organise a random interview at the University of Sydney to investigate students’ sustainable consumption habits and test their awareness of incorrect environmental-concerning claims. And then I will embed the interview video into my story to enhance its multimedia. Besides, to inspire broader discussions, I will public discussion topic “Do you know what is greenwashing advertising” on Twitter, combined with a poll “Will you check if your purchasing ‘sustainable’ products are really sustainable?” on Instagram to encourage engagement. What’s more, to enrich the background information of this social issue, I will frequently utilise hypertext when reflecting on some official reports, such as Greenwashing by Business in Australia (ACCC, 2023) and Youth Survey Report 2024 (Mission Australia, 2024).
Reference
ACCC. (2023). Greenwashing by Businesses in Australia. https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Greenwashing%20by%20businesses%20in%20Australia.pdf
ACCC. (2025). Clorox ordered to pay $8.25m in penalties for misleading ‘ocean plastic’ claims about certain GLAD products. https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/clorox-ordered-to-pay-825m-in-penalties-for-misleading-ocean-plastic-claims-about-certain-glad-products
Briggs, C. (2023, December 1). New research finds advertisers are regularly making meaningless claims that their products are ‘clean’, ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’. ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-01/advertisers-claim-products-clean-green-sustainable-consumers/103172196?utm_source=abc_news_web&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link
Deloitte. (2024). 2024 Gen Z and Millennial Survey. https://www.deloitte.com/content/dam/assets-shared/docs/campaigns/2024/deloitte-2024-genz-millennial-survey.pdf?dlva=1
Mission Australia. (2024). Youth Survey Report. https://cdn-asset-mel-2.airsquare.com/yea/library/research/youth-survey-2024-pdf.pdf?202412190154
Vyas, H. (2025, April 14). Clorox fined $8.25m over misleading ‘ocean plastic’ on G-LAD bags. ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-14/clorox-fined-by-accc-over-misleading-claims-on-glad-bags/105175936?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other
Wikipedia. (2025, April 7). Greenwashing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwashing
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