50 Shades of Green
by Alice Pichery, licensed aesthetician & massage therapist
Greenwashing, pinkwashing, bluewashing, and brownwashing – it seems that there are a rainbow of deceptive strategies from companies and organizations to present themselves as friendlier to worldwide causes than they actually are. One topic in particular is the most present and thought-provoking in the beauty industry, greenwashing. With a growing awareness of climate change and the search for more sustainability but also safe products for the consumer, it has never been trendier for a company to be labeled as green, but in the midst of these very appealing claims and promises, is greenwashing actually occurring?
ORIGIN & EXAMPLES
Greenwashing is a communication and marketing strategy that uses the appeal of terms such as eco-friendly, green, organic, clean, natural, and nontoxic to promote a brand and make their products sound safer and more environmentally friendly than they are. It can refer to the quality of the product itself (clean beauty, nontoxic, organic, and so on) or its low impact on the environment (sustainable). It is present in all industries, and the beauty industry is no exception.
The first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970, and encouraged many industries to advertise themselves as environmentally friendly. Public utilities spent eight times more money on this false advertising than on pollution reduction research.
In 1986, environmentalist Jay Westerveld noticed signs in hotel rooms asking guests to reuse their towels while also noting that no real effort was made by these institutions to actually reduce energy waste to be more eco-friendly. He concluded that the real objective was often increased profit and labeled this and other profitable but ineffective environmentally conscious acts as “greenwashing.”
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Skin expert and founder of the spa retailing coaching platform, The SPAcialist, Alice Pichery has been in the spa industry for 15 years. Born and trained in France as a licensed aesthetician and massage therapist, she traveled the world and expanded her spa and wellness culture before settling in Miami, Florida for the last 10 years. Acknowledged in the industry as a savvy cosmetics educator, spa trainer, and retail manager for high-end locations and brands, Pichery’s mission is to empower spa professionals to become the retail high-performers they were always meant to be while remaining aligned with their authentic self and purpose.