KLM sued for greenwashing in their advertising

A lot of brands make bold claims about their sustainability credentials.

Some of those claims are in part accurate, but most of them are complete nonsense.

The unethical practice of talking up your non-existent green credentials is known as greenwashing - and now, the Dutch Airline KLM is being sued by a group called Fossielvrij NL for doing it.

The complaint is against the KLM advertising tagline : “Be a Hero, Fly CO2 Zero,” which it is argued, has led flyers to believe that KLM commissions emission-less flights.

In reality this is not the case at all.

If found guilty, KLM will need to withdraw all of these claims from their promotional material, but perhaps more importantly - a guilty verdict will set a strong legal precedent against other brands crossing the greenwashing line in the future.

Understandably a lot of brands are striving to be more environmentally sustainable, and consumers are obviously urging them on to succeed.

The danger is that some over-enthusiastic communications person can get a bit too carried away with the story, and yes...potentially mislead consumers into believing that hurtling a 1-million+ ton chunk of metal through the air is in any way good for the planet.

If in doubt, rather talk about your quest for a greener future than blab on about a fictitious holy grail that we all know is nonsense.

What's evident is that KLM are indeed trying hard - just have a look at this awkward video promoting their efforts to reduce weight on-board their flights, but trying isn't the same as a resolution.  

Be careful with promoting sustainability - it's a slippery slope to a potential PR nightmare.