Notes

Greenwashing refers to contrived corporate initiatives designed to give the impression that the company is socially responsible when in fact it is not as vulnerable to scandals arising from the company's unacceptable social behaviours. Due to emerging trends of increased demand for environmentally friendly goods and services among consumers and investors, most companies whose main priority is skyrocketing profits rather than the quality of the product they produce have been known to use excessive media advertisement in portraying themselves as eco friendly in order to attract investors and consumers while engaging in non-environmentally friendly practises, as seen in companies like Coca-cola, walmart, Volkswaggen and etc.

Greenwashing frequently leads to increased consumer distrust for the company's products, as most consumers are unable to tell whether a company's claims of being green are contrived or genuine. Another disadvantage of greenwashing is that it causes massive losses for the company, most of which take far too long to achieve their status and, in the worst-case scenario, are unable to fully recover. False claims of greenness on the part of the company can be harmful to the environment or even life threatening, as seen with BP's oil spills. In most cases, the exposure of a greenwashing company results in massive job losses among workers as a result of layoffs by managers in an attempt to reduce losses incurred as a result of such exposures. It also results in financial losses for the company, primarily as a result of fines from law suits brought by investors or/and workers, as well as compensation from injured workers or compensation to the families of workers who may have died as a result of injuries sustained at work as a result of negligence or ignorance on the part of the company. Most affected companies are able to recover the value of their stock prices with proper strategies and the formulation of various strategies, though in some cases, the recovery process is slow for some companies. According to the study findings, dealing with such scandals necessitates a complete change of administration for the majority of the companies involved, as most CEOs either step down or are fired following the exposure.