Marketing: A Powerful Tool with Unsustainable Practices

Marketing is a powerful tool that can define a company's image and success. However, not all marketing practices are sustainable or aligned with ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) criteria. In this post, we'll review some marketing practices that do not meet these criteria and their negative impacts on the company and society.

1. Greenwashing

Greenwashing refers to the practice of giving a false impression of environmental responsibility by a company. This can include exaggerating the eco-friendly features of a product, omitting relevant information about environmental impact, or making unverifiable claims about sustainability practices.

ESG Impact of Greenwahing practices:

Environmental: Misleading consumers about sustainability perpetuates environmentally harmful practices.

Social: Generates consumer distrust, damaging the company's reputation.

Governance: Demonstrates a lack of transparency and ethics in business management.

2. Femwashing

Femwashing, also known as pinkwashing, involves promoting products, services, or initiatives as supporting women's rights and gender equality without genuine commitment or concrete actions. This practice exploits equality movements to enhance brand image and attract conscious consumers without making substantial changes in corporate culture or policies.

ESG Impact of Femwashing practices:

Environmental: Diverts attention and resources from critical environmental initiatives, promoting consumerism and waste production.

Social: Erodes consumer trust, demoralizes employees, perpetuates gender inequality, and trivializes feminist movements.

Governance: Reflects a lack of transparency and ethics, with the risk of legal sanctions and loss of support from responsible investors.

3. Deceptive Advertising

Deceptive advertising involves any form of communication that misleads consumers about the characteristics, benefits, or quality of a product or service. This can manifest as omitting relevant information, using ambiguous language, or presenting false testimonials.

ESG Impact of deceptive advertising practices:

Social: Damages consumer trust and can lead to poorly informed purchasing decisions.

Governance: Reflects a lack of integrity and corporate responsibility.

4. Unethical Audience Targeting

Unethical audience targeting involves using personal data without user consent and exploiting emotional or psychological vulnerabilities to manipulate purchasing decisions.

ESG Impact of unethical audience targeting:

Social: Violates consumer privacy and can result in emotional manipulation.

Governance: Shows a lack of respect for consumer rights and privacy.

5. Planned Obsolescence

Planned obsolescence is the practice of designing products with a limited lifespan, forcing consumers to buy new products more frequently.

ESG Impact of planned obsolescence practices:

Environmental: Generates a significant amount of electronic waste and resource wastage.

Social: Increases the cost of living for consumers, especially economically vulnerable ones.

Governance: Shows a lack of commitment to sustainability and resource efficiency.

6. Misleading Discounts and Promotions

Offering discounts and promotions that are not truly advantageous, such as inflating prices before applying discounts, is a deceptive practice that affects transparency and trust.

ESG Impact of misleading promotions:

Social: Misleads consumers and can lead to purchases based on false information.

Governance: Reflects a lack of ethics in sales and marketing strategies.

7. Fear-Based Marketing

Fear-based marketing uses tactics that exploit consumers' fears or insecurities to sell products or services. This can include ads promoting safety or health products by exaggerating risks.

ESG Impact of fear based marketing:

Social: Can generate unnecessary anxiety and stress among consumers.

Governance: Reflects a lack of sensitivity and ethics in consumer communication.

8. Exploitative Child Marketing

Marketing directed at children that exploits their lack of critical discernment to influence purchasing decisions is particularly problematic. This includes using cartoon characters, child celebrities, and ads during children's TV shows.

ESG Impact of exploitative child marketing:

Social: Can promote unhealthy consumption habits and perpetuate materialistic values among children.

Governance: Shows a lack of ethical responsibility in advertising to vulnerable audiences.

9. Spamming and Intrusive Advertising

Mass emailing of unsolicited messages (spam) and intrusive advertising (pop-ups and invasive ads) can be very annoying to consumers, generating backlash.

ESG Impact of spamming and intrusive advertising:

Social: Irritates and alienates consumers, eroding brand trust.

Governance: May violate privacy and marketing regulations, and shows a lack of respect for consumer consent.

10. Marketing Harmful Products

Promoting products harmful to health or well-being, such as high-sugar foods or dangerous chemicals, without adequate warnings.

ESG Impact of promoting harmful products:

Social: Compromises consumer health and safety.

Governance: Reflects a lack of ethics and responsibility towards customer well-being.

11. Manipulating Reviews and Opinions

Paying for fake reviews or manipulating opinions on review platforms to create a misleading image of the product or service.

ESG Impact of manipulating opinions:

Social: Misleads consumers and distorts public perception of product quality.

Governance: Demonstrates a lack of transparency and honesty in business practices.

12. Unethical Influencer Marketing

Collaborating with influencers who do not share the company's values or promote unethical behaviors can damage the brand's reputation.

ESG Impact of unethical influencer marketing practices:

Social: Associates the brand with negative values and controversial behaviors.

Governance: Reflects a lack of alignment with corporate values and responsibility in partner selection.

13. Unethical Consumer Psychology Use

Applying psychological tactics to manipulate purchasing decisions in ways that can harm consumers financially or emotionally, such as artificial scarcity or time pressure techniques.

ESG Impact of unethical consumer psycology use:

Social: Can cause stress and impulsive purchasing decisions that consumers later regret.

Governance: Reflects a lack of ethics in consumer behavior manipulation.

14. Exclusion of Vulnerable Markets

Ignoring vulnerable or low-income consumer groups in marketing campaigns, perpetuating inequality and limiting access to necessary products and services.

ESG Impact of excluding vulnerable markets:

Social: Reinforces exclusion and economic inequality.

Governance: Shows a lack of commitment to inclusion and equity.

15. Lack of Product Information Transparency

Omitting crucial information about product composition, origin, or environmental impact, preventing consumers from making informed decisions.

ESG Impact of lack of transparency in product information:

Environmental: Consumers cannot assess the environmental impact of their purchases.

Social: Damages consumer trust.

Governance: Shows a lack of transparency and responsibility.

16. Selective and Exclusionary Advertising

Targeting advertising to specific demographic groups while intentionally excluding others based on race, gender, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status.

ESG Impact of selective and exclusionary advertising:

Social: Perpetuates stereotypes and social exclusion.

Governance: Reflects a lack of inclusion and diversity in marketing strategies.

17. Promoting Excessive Consumption

Encouraging excessive consumption through strategies like perceived obsolescence and constant new product launches, inciting consumers to replace still-functional products.

ESG Impact of encouraging excessive consumption:

Environmental: Contributes to waste and irresponsible resource consumption.

Social: Promotes an unsustainable consumption culture.

Governance: Shows a lack of responsibility in promoting sustainable consumption practices.

Have you noticed these common practices?

In this post, we discuss the consequences for companies using these marketing dynamics.