Cosmetic Sustainability and Public Relations

Public rela­tions must steer clear of cos­met­ic sustainability.

Should the pub­lic rela­tions func­tion be respons­ible for an organ­isa­tion’s sus­tain­ab­il­ity strategy?

Academic lit­er­at­ure and industry prac­tices sug­gest that when the highest-rank­ing com­mu­nic­a­tions officer is part of the top man­age­ment team, the pub­lic rela­tions (PR) func­tion is well-placed to drive sus­tain­ab­il­ity initiatives.

If the highest-rank­ing com­mu­nic­a­tions officer­’s exec­ut­ive status and mana­geri­al prowess aren’t up to par, the organ­isa­tion will run the risk of prac­tising cos­met­ic sustainability.

Here we go:

Types of Cosmetic Sustainability

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Types of Cosmetic Sustainability

In pub­lic rela­tions, cos­met­ic sus­tain­ab­il­ity refers to giv­ing the impres­sion of being envir­on­ment­ally friendly or socially con­scious without imple­ment­ing sub­stant­ive, mean­ing­ful changes. 

Here are some examples of cos­met­ic sustainability:

• Greenwashing. Organisations give the impres­sion of being envir­on­ment­ally friendly without provid­ing any pos­it­ive impact of substance.
• Bluewashing. Organisations claim to be envir­on­ment­ally respons­ible by asso­ci­at­ing them­selves with ocean and water con­ser­va­tion efforts without sig­ni­fic­ant actions to sup­port those claims.
• Socialwashing. Organisations present them­selves as cham­pi­ons of social causes or cor­por­ate social respons­ib­il­ity (CSR) ini­ti­at­ives without genu­inely invest­ing in or address­ing those issues.
• Pinkwashing. The use of LGBTQ+ rights and causes to mar­ket products or improve an organ­isa­tion’s image while not sup­port­ing these com­munit­ies meaningfully.
• Brownwashing. Portraying an organ­isa­tion as sup­port­ive of racial justice and diversity ini­ti­at­ives without real com­mit­ment or sys­tem­ic change with­in the organisation.
• Cleanwashing. Marketing products as “clean” or “non-tox­ic” when the terms are not clearly defined or reg­u­lated and without sig­ni­fic­ant evid­ence to sup­port the safety and envir­on­ment­al bene­fits of the products.
• Localwashing. Organisations emphas­ise loc­al sourcing or com­munity engage­ment to appeal to con­sumers while not genu­inely con­trib­ut­ing to the loc­al eco­nomy or environment.
• Wokewashing. Adopting pro­gress­ive val­ues or stances on social issues super­fi­cially to attract socially con­scious con­sumers without genu­inely address­ing these issues with­in the organisation.
• Healthwashing. Organisations mar­ket products as health­i­er than they are by high­light­ing minor bene­fi­cial ingredi­ents or prac­tices while ignor­ing harm­ful com­pon­ents or practices.
• Labourwashing. Claiming eth­ic­al prac­tices in areas like labour rights, sourcing, and man­u­fac­tur­ing without adher­ing to rig­or­ous stand­ards or mak­ing sig­ni­fic­ant improvements.
• Charitywashing. Promoting char­it­able dona­tions or part­ner­ships to improve brand image, where the con­tri­bu­tions are min­im­al, or the focus is more on the pub­li­city than the impact.

Each of these types of cos­met­ic sus­tain­ab­il­ity involves a dis­crep­ancy between the com­pany’s pub­lic image and its actu­al prac­tices, often mis­lead­ing con­sumers and stake­hold­ers about their true impact and intentions.

“Greenwashing is more likely when firm stock volat­il­ity is low, cost of cap­it­al is high, pri­cing power is strong, and inform­a­tion asym­metry is high, but cur­rent returns to gre­en­wash­ing are lim­ited without a sig­ni­fic­ant amount of inform­a­tion asym­metry.“
Source: Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment ¹Gregory, R. (2020). When is gre­en­wash­ing an easy fix? Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, 13, 919 — 942. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​8​0​/​2​0​4​3​0​7​9​5​.​2​0​2​1​.​1​9​0​7​091

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The Role of PR in Organisational Leadership

Integrating the chief com­mu­nic­a­tions officer (CCO) into the top man­age­ment team is crit­ic­al to the PR func­tion’s effic­acy in driv­ing sus­tain­ab­il­ity. When PR lead­ers occupy a seat at the exec­ut­ive table, they pos­sess the vis­ib­il­ity, author­ity, and access to resources neces­sary to influ­ence stra­tegic decision-mak­ing and oper­a­tion­al pri­or­it­ies. ²Smith, L. (2018). The stra­tegic seat: PR’s role in organ­isa­tion­al lead­er­ship. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 39(5), 630 – 645.

This stra­tegic pos­i­tion­ing enables them to embed sus­tain­ab­il­ity into the organ­isa­tion­al DNA rather than being an after­thought or a peri­pher­al concern. 

Moreover, the pres­ence of PR lead­ers in the top ech­el­ons of man­age­ment facil­it­ates cross-func­tion­al col­lab­or­a­tion, ensur­ing that sus­tain­ab­il­ity ini­ti­at­ives are integ­rated across depart­ments. This hol­ist­ic integ­ra­tion is essen­tial for sus­tain­ab­il­ity to be genu­inely ingrained in the organ­isa­tion’s oper­a­tions and cul­ture rather than merely dis­join­ted ini­ti­at­ives. ³Doe, J., & McCallister, L. (2021). Integrating sus­tain­ab­il­ity across the organ­isa­tion: The role of PR in cor­por­ate strategy. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 26(2), 289 – 305.

“Corporate sus­tain­ab­il­ity com­mu­nic­a­tions play a cru­cial role in mar­ket­ing, busi­ness, and soci­et­al aspects, and pro­fes­sion­al­iz­a­tion is cru­cial for prac­ti­tion­ers to secure an evolving field of action.“
Source: Journal of Public Relations Research ⁴Signitzer, B., & Prexl, A. (2007). Corporate Sustainability Communications: Aspects of Theory and Professionalization. Journal of Public Relations Research, 20, 1 — 19. … Continue read­ing

In the pur­suit of sus­tain­ab­il­ity, organ­isa­tions find them­selves on the brink of an abyss; it is not merely the envir­on­ment that gazes back but the essence of their exist­en­tial pur­pose, chal­len­ging them to tran­scend the super­fi­ci­al­ity of cor­por­ate image for the pro­fund­ity of genu­ine change.⁵Silfwer, J. (2016, November 2). Your CSR is Boring — You Are Picking the Wrong Fights. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​c​sr/

The Imperative of Management Skills in PR

The effic­acy of PR in driv­ing organ­isa­tion­al sus­tain­ab­il­ity extends bey­ond stra­tegic pos­i­tion­ing. It is con­tin­gent upon the PR lead­er­’s man­age­ment skills. A PR lead­er with robust man­age­ment skills can cham­pi­on organ­isa­tion­al change, mar­shal resources towards sus­tain­ab­il­ity ini­ti­at­ives, and nav­ig­ate the com­plex­it­ies of stake­hold­er engage­ment. ⁶Green, T., & Jones, E. (2019). Management skills for effect­ive pub­lic rela­tions: Insights from the field. Public Relations Review, 45(2), 101 – 112.

They are adept at lever­aging PR’s com­mu­nic­at­ive power to artic­u­late a com­pel­ling sus­tain­ab­il­ity vis­ion, gal­van­ise organ­isa­tion­al com­mit­ment, and foster a cul­ture of sustainability.

Furthermore, skilled PR lead­ers can meas­ure and com­mu­nic­ate the impact of sus­tain­ab­il­ity ini­ti­at­ives, rein­for­cing the busi­ness case for sus­tain­ab­il­ity and ensur­ing con­tinu­ous improve­ment. This abil­ity to demon­strate tan­gible out­comes is cru­cial for main­tain­ing stake­hold­er sup­port and for the sus­tain­ab­il­ity agenda to gain trac­tion with­in the organ­isa­tion. ⁷Brown, A. (2020). Communicating sus­tain­ab­il­ity: A PR per­spect­ive. Journal of Sustainable Development, 13(4), 45 – 58.

“Public rela­tions is cru­cial for organ­iz­a­tions imple­ment­ing cor­por­ate sus­tain­ab­il­ity to effect­ively com­mu­nic­ate with stake­hold­ers, employ­ees, and the pub­lic, enhan­cing pos­it­ive inter­ac­tions and achiev­ing goals.“
Source: Global Journal of Management and Business Research ⁸Rivero, O., & Theodore, J. (2014). The Importance of Public Relations in Corporate Sustainability. Global Journal of Management and Business Research, 14.

Risks of Cosmetic Sustainability

Without a stra­tegic­ally posi­tioned and skilled PR lead­er, organ­isa­tions risk their sus­tain­ab­il­ity efforts becom­ing cos­met­ic. Cosmetic sus­tain­ab­il­ity refers to super­fi­cially attract­ive ini­ti­at­ives without sub­stant­ive impact. ⁹White, R. (2022). Beyond the green façade: Challenging the myths of cos­met­ic sus­tain­ab­il­ity. Environmental Management and Sustainable Development, 11(3), 77 – 89.

Cosmetic sus­tain­ab­il­ity often arises from treat­ing sus­tain­ab­il­ity as a PR exer­cise to enhance cor­por­ate image rather than driv­ing genu­ine organ­isa­tion­al change.

Cosmetic sus­tain­ab­il­ity fails to address the under­ly­ing sus­tain­ab­il­ity chal­lenges, can erode stake­hold­er trust, and can dam­age the organ­isa­tion’s repu­ta­tion in the long term. This under­scores the import­ance of authen­t­ic, impact-driv­en sus­tain­ab­il­ity ini­ti­at­ives cham­pioned by PR lead­ers with the requis­ite stra­tegic influ­ence and man­age­ment skills. ¹⁰Khan, S., & Gray, D. (2021). The pit­falls of cos­met­ic sus­tain­ab­il­ity in cor­por­ate prac­tice. Business Strategy and the Environment, 30(1), 422 – 433.

The CCO Must Bring Fire to the Gods

The pub­lic rela­tions func­tion can be respons­ible for organ­isa­tion­al sus­tain­ab­il­ity, con­di­tion­al upon the PR lead­er­’s inclu­sion in the top man­age­ment team — and suf­fi­cient man­age­ment skills to match.

This stra­tegic pos­i­tion­ing and skill set enable PR lead­ers to effect­ively drive organ­isa­tion­al change towards sus­tain­ab­il­ity, ensur­ing that ini­ti­at­ives are integ­rated, impact­ful, and aligned with the organ­isa­tion’s stra­tegic objectives. 

In con­trast, the absence of these con­di­tions can releg­ate sus­tain­ab­il­ity efforts to merely cos­met­ic efforts, under­min­ing their poten­tial to effect real change. As organ­isa­tions con­tin­ue to nav­ig­ate the com­plex­it­ies of sus­tain­ab­il­ity, PR’s role in cham­pi­on­ing this agenda becomes increas­ingly indispensable.

Like Prometheus defy­ing the gods to bring fire to human­ity, so too must the CCO, armed with the flame of man­age­ment skills and stra­tegic insight, chal­lenge the titans of industry iner­tia, light­ing the way toward a new era where sus­tain­ab­il­ity is not an option but the very found­a­tion of organ­isa­tion­al existence.

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• Public Relations Agency: How To Collaborate
• The Best PR Agency for You: Identify Your PR Engine
• Why ROI and PR Mix Like Oil and Water
• Your CSR is Boring — You Are Picking the Wrong Fights
• Cosmetic Sustainability and Public Relations
• Your PR Campaign is Too Short
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