Estudo sobre a percepção e atitudes da geração millennials frente a marcas que praticam greenwashing

Abstract

The environment movements that started in the 19th century already exposed, in a pioneering way, the concern with the impact of the rampant consumerism on the environment. With them began a redirection of consumers towards sustainability, a responsible consumption and production, as well as a conscious disposal which is crucial in terms of consumption nowadays. Despite the importance of the theme, it is still noticed a lack of consumer proactivity, of commitment to a sustainable production in companies and absence of proficient supervision from the government. These gaps lead directly to the practice of greenwashing which emerges when companies mislead consumers by concealing their products or when they hide how irresponsible they are in environmental matters under an untrue discourse. The millennial generation stands out for its interest and concern with environmental issues and for its rigorous and critical analysis of brands it consumes. In this way, the aim of this study is to understand the relation between green brands and the millennial generation, by identifying how the greenwashing practice interferes in brand awareness and attitude in this generation’s choices. Therefore, this study aims to identify the knowledge of the greenwashing concept of millennials and how they see companies/brands that adopt this practice, besides mapping consumption attitudes of such brands after the confirmation of this practice, substantiating this study in the Stern Theory. A research with an exploratory approach of qualitative nature was then carried out nationwide, with self-answered questionnaires over the Internet by 143 valid respondents. The originality of this research is to bring to light the reaction of the millennial generation to greenwashing practices. The results point that millennials believe that a product is green once all its production chain is sustainable, they relate their worry of a green consumption to health and the environment, and they do not see price as a consumption restriction. They showed that this generation, although not entirely familiar with the greenwashing concept, is alert to products which damage the environment, and they are critic consumers of companies that do not respect it. Once they are aware of a misleading environmental advertisement, they stop consuming the brand and share their experience with family and friends. Moreover, the obtained data shows that this generation does not trust public institutions, and most millennials do not choose to report to regulatory entities nor to get in touch with manufacturers, but to expose the experience in social media, once they do not believe in effective solutions nor know how to get a possible one. Notably, they consider companies that practice greenwashing to deceive consumers and, when they decide to report them, they do it so companies do not reoccur with other clients and are, therefore, held accountable. The research collaborated to alert to the risks involved in the reputation of brands that use questionable practices, to encourage a closer approach to this generation group in order to measure the impact in the greenwashing perception and to find effective solutions without going through complaints in social media. What we should bear in mind, after all, it is the need of a company to organize its production process in a truly sustainable way and to consolidate a long term relationship with environmental friendly consumers