Don't get pricked by "Natural" products

An explosion of products that claim to be ‘fresh’, ‘clean’ and ‘natural’ have flooded the market along with misleading labels, packaging & manipulative marketing campaigns. BioBunnies investigate: What does it actually mean to ‘Go Green’?

In my previous blogpost (check it out here Love Your Skin. Love Our Planet.) I highlighted the dangers of unsustainable farming and mindless mining of natural resources and the devastating effects that this has caused on our ecosystems, depleting natural resources and labour exploitation around the world.

The primary reason being that shady companies among us, who want to jump on the ‘natural’ product bandwagon to increase sales, actually take very little care of our planet in the process.

During my research, I came across this word ‘Greenwashing.’ It was a term I had never heard of before, so all in the name of research, I was determined to find out the facts!

The word Greenwash was originally born from the word Whitewash. A word often used throughout history in connection with politics, often when referring to dictatorships or authoritarian states. The dictionary definition reads as follows:

Whitewash: A deliberate attempt to conceal unpleasant or incriminating facts about a person or organization in order to protect their reputation.

At the beginning of the 1980’s the term greenwashing truly began to emerge, as more and more corporate companies began making outrageous sustainable claims and using cleverly constructed marketing campaigns to cover up very questionable environmental ethics. In other words, shocking environmentally unsustainable practices went hidden behind green and glossy ad campaigns.

Fortunately, as the term greenwashing obtained more and more exposure, so did the truth of the companies hiding behind their manipulative marketing techniques and by the end of the decade, the word had officially made its debut alongside its old pal whitewashing. The dictionary definition reads as follows:

Greenwash: Disinformation disseminated by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image.

So in other words, companies using ‘green’ PR to deceptively promote an organization’s products, values or policies as environmentally friendly, when in reality they couldn’t be further from the truth.

Marketing over Morals

In recent years, as consumer preferences to use natural and organic products have increased, unfortunately, so has the use of the term greenwashing. The continuing glossing over of product ingredients are promoted by labels and buzz-words such as ‘fresh’ ‘green’ and ‘clean’.

Natural products from mass manufacturing companies have consistently come under speculation for using synthetic preservatives to extend product shelf life, potent synthetic fragrances, crazy colouring derived from burning coal and the use of PVC (the world’s most damaging plastic -environmentally as well as health-wise) in their ‘eco-friendly’ packaging.

The real wolves in sheep’s clothing are those companies that go as far to name multiple products as ‘natural’ after adding a single drop of a natural ingredient to their nasty mixture of petrochemicals.

So how can companies get away with this total lack of honesty and manipulation I hear you cry?

Within the world of beauty products, it is almost impossible to define what is truly natural because there is actually no clear-cut definition and with the ever-growing conscious consumer buzz-words such as ‘green’ ‘clean’ ‘fresh’ continuing to blur lines, we don’t seem to be any closer to an actual defining answer. Products don’t actually have to be certified natural or organic before being marketed in pretty green packaging, which means companies can get away with this time and time again until their products may, or may not be, properly investigated.

There is no denying the fact, that it is extremely sad that we live in a world where we can’t trust mainstream brands that proclaim to be natural when they continue to use nasty ingredients, PVC packaging and carry out unsustainable & unethical practices.

Here at BioBunnies, we have come to the realisation that the best way to know if a product is as natural or organic as it possibly can be, is to look into the brand companies core values, credentials and ethos.

By promoting and providing our customers with brands that don’t hide behind glossy ad campaigns but embrace their mission to provide the highest standard of natural and organic ingredients with the utmost respect for nature from the beginning to the end of each product’s life, we can rest easy at night knowing our partner brands have indeed chosen a moral compass over marketing ploys.