Business and the Environment: Missing Pieces to the Puzzle

Communicating sustainability and environmental issues via social media has become mainstream for big businesses. More companies are using Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and blogs to talk about sustainability than ever before. It simple to why this marketing tool has been so intriguing to use to build business brand's; they want there good deeds to go viral!  The big problem when there are business motives behind anything are the bits and pieces left out that would hurt profit and when reporting on sustainability there is no exception.  Here are the pieces that you do not get when reading about the environment and sustainability when companies promote it through social media. 


What really matters

PepsiCo recently tweeted about how it is teaming up with Matt Damon and Gary White to bring access to safe water to developing countries. 

PepsiCo ‏@PepsiCo21 OctWatch how we're working w Matt Damon and Gary White at @water to bring access to safe water to developing countries http://bit.ly/1a2BkhC  View media


While it is very important that PepsiCo is helping with our global water crisis, tweets like these are simply used as a pitch to help build their brand.  Notice that this pitch is made by stating the company is working with movie star Matt Damon.  Social media is already limited by how much substance and content we are able to use when communicating a message and many of the details that would be helpful about exactly how, why, and when this project will go into effect is left out. 


The Truth, The Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth

These same companies such as PepsiCo along with Coke and many others will not alert you of there contribution to the pollution of our earth.  Just recently Alisha Mims published an article called "Coke and Pepsi taste like tar sands."  In this article she talks about how large soda companies are some of the biggest oil users in the United States and that despite these companies' promises of sustainability, Coke and Pepsi, continue supporting "one of the worlds dirtiest oils on Earth."  As social media continues to grow the customers of these companies will continue to increasingly get more advertisement through social media, which will not only limit there knowledge on a product but also what they know to be true. The conglomeration and convergence of these companies has also hurt the limited truths that reach our consumers because people really only now of Coke and Pepsi as the top companies in the soda industry.  Pepsi has also been criticized for the amount of water pollution it has caused in many other countries but through demassification this will continue to be hidden its target audience.    


What they ACTUALLY do to help the cause 

Businesses use social media as another tool to market and advertise their product.  True authenticity has become a major issue in the world of marketing and advertisement, therefore, what they report and market on the environment and sustainability will not always be real.  The oil company with the worst safety and environmental record of the Big Six is also the author of "Beyond Petroleum," one of the most successful green-branding campaigns ever.  BP  promoted these new oil and safety precautions through social media as a huge hypocrite. The real problem here was not that BP made PR mistakes but that they do none of what they preached; it was all simply to better the brand.  Companies let perception get ahead of reality.  BP did a fabulous job with "Beyond Petroleum," but less than 1% of their revenue has ever come from renewables.