Decoding Deception: A Critical Inquiry into Consumers’ Experiences of Corporate Greenwashing
The promotion of products and activities that are purportedly environmentally friendly is known as "greenwashing," and it is a persistent practice in commercial advertising. Customers are wary of greenwashing, according to research, as many eco-friendly merchandise statements have been proven to be untrue. The brand value of large firms is at risk due to this crisis of confidence, which brings to mind incidents from the previous ten years including insider trading, price rigging, and a lack of corporate social responsibility. The goal of this empirical research was to investigate and characterise the core of customers' experiences with greenwashing because corporate executives had little knowledge of these experiences. As customers' knowledge about the environment grew, so did their comprehension of how their buying habits affect the world around them. As a result, businesses began implementing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives to satisfy customer demands for ecologically conscious behaviour. Nevertheless, some businesses have begun to indulge in deceptive practices that overstate their efforts to promote sustainability as a result of stakeholder pressure on this issue. Customers are sceptical because they think this is greenwashing. This study attempts to close the knowledge gap surrounding consumers' opinions of greenwashing and the influence of unfavourable data in shaping attitudes of well-known brands.