Greenwashing and its effects on today’s consumer with specific examples of Fiji and Nestle from bottled water industry

Abstract

This dissertation examines the role of green washing and investigates its effects on today‟s consumer perceptions. For this purpose, the researcher investigated two different demographics which represented today‟s consumer and its perceptions. The main goal of this research paper is to analyze whether todays consumers are more conscious, what they think about greenwashing and if their buying pattern changes once they become aware of the false advertising campaigns made by corporations. For this reserch paper, primary data was gathered with the help of questionnaire and through semi-structured focus group interviews with 16 consumers who represented two different generations: Millennial and Generation X. The findings from the primary and secondary data offer insights into various perspectives from consumer‟s point of view. This study indicates that majority of the interviewees were not aware of what greenwashing means. Further, it was evident that Millenials and Generation X differed in their perceptions regarding the company and false claims made by them. The interviewees identifies some key issues which would definately change their buying pattern however mostly all of the participants agreed that scandals, in this case used from the bottle water industry Fiji and Nestle, did not influence them that much. Research participants acknowledged that many companies use greenwashing as their marketing strategy and decision of buying or not from them, would not change anything. Contrary to the researchers expectations, the millenial generations sample did not show willingness to pay extra for environmentally friendly goods. To conclude, it is evident that consumers need more information about the greenwashing.