A Study on The Greenwashing Strategies in BASF’S ‘We Love EVS’ Campaign

Abstract

The study explores the deception communication strategies used in BASF's 'We Love EV's' digital-only advertising campaign and promotional website. Although greenwashing is not uncommon, in the past two decades, it has given rise to a newer area in marketing called 'corporate environmentalism'. The researchers for this study use descriptive content analysis to analyse various greenwashing strategies and draw similarities with the propaganda techniques used by BASF's 'We Love EV's' digital-only advertising campaign and promotional website. As identified by Underwriters Laboratories, Greenwashing techniques are used by BASF's 'We Love EV's' digital-only advertising campaign and promotional website. Further, it identified that the campaign used the Plain folk testimonial technique as a significant tool to alter perceptions. The study also reveals that the testimonies given by participants do not mention the brand name nor the use of BASF components in their self-made electric vehicles, hinting that BASF products are implicit ingredients of mobility solutions.