What is the difference between social washing and greenwashing?

Greenwashing, also called green sheen, is a form of advertising or marketing spin in which green PR and green marketing are deceptively used to persuade the public that an organization’s products, aims, and policies are environmentally friendly.

What is the difference between social washing and greenwashing?

Social washing is quite similar to greenwashing, except for the fact that corporations are wrongfully trying to market themselves as socially conscious. In reality, they don’t do anything beyond lip service to support the cause espoused by them in the social washing campaigns.

Social washing, like the better-known greenwashing, occurs when there is a disconnect between perceived commitments to social issues and genuine action.

The practice can come in the form of brand activism or corporate statements about a wide range of social issues including diversity, equity and inclusion; labor standards; racial justice; human rights; product safety; and data privacy.

In the US, comedian Bo Burnham sent up such statements in a skit poking fun at corporate engagement videos. “The question is no longer ‘do you want to buy Wheat Thins, for example, the question is now ‘will you support Wheat Thins in the fight against lyme disease.’”