Leah Thomas Wants Brands to Revise Their Messaging

Leah Thomas has advice for the brands when it comes to sustainability: Stop grounding your strategy in the so-called shortcomings of competitors. “Any corporation that’s making something is going to be greenwashing in some kind of way,” said Thomas, who is an author, creator and the CEO of nonprofit organization The Intersectional Environmentalist. “There are varying levels to it, but it’s about understanding that the most sustainable choice to make is not even buying from you.” The Adweek 2023 Sustainability Honoree, who coined the term “eco-communicator” to describe her approach to digital activism, started researching and subsequently educating social media users on the link between social justice and environmentalism after noticing a lack of funding in the space. Thomas’ digital presence began with her personal blog Green Girl Leah, which was once a hub for clean beauty and product recommendations and garnered more traction when she started breaking down intersectional theory. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Leah Thomas (@greengirlleah) Before Thomas pursued sustainability education and content creation full time, she was a public relations and communications assistant at Patagonia. While the clothing company has a long-standing reputation as an eco-friendly business, Thomas admits that no brand is perfect. Because consumerism is already at odds with sustainability, she is reminding brands that leading creative campaigns with stats like “45% less plastic than the leading competitor” leaves consumers both bored of an exhausted strategy and skeptical of the campaign’s accuracy. “There’s a real shift happening in the sustainability space where people are moving towards climate optimism and solutions,” said Thomas, who pointed to the fearmongering content style of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and the Sarah McLachlan era of pairing sad music with abandoned animals. “To get people interested in the climate, we need to be showing them positive community impact and hopeful futures instead of doom and fear.” Promoting practical participation Alongside educating her audience on the intersection between social justice and environmentalism, Thomas has also been featured in campaigns including Logitech’s Super Bowl spot and clothing brand Allbirds’ apparel campaign, which spotlighted people of color environmentalists in a tone that she felt was subtle and steered clear of tokenization. One partnership that also stands out to Thomas is her work with tea brand Tazo, which recruited singer SZA to stress the importance of planting trees in urban areas. View this post on Instagram A post shared by TAZO (@tazo) “They weren’t talking about what other tea brands were doing and are just walking the walk,” said Thomas. “I would tell folks to get innovative like that, especially if they’re trying to appeal to a Gen Z consumer. They want to learn about what you’re doing and not how you’re better.” To get people interested in the climate, we need to be showing them positive community impact and hopeful futures instead of doom and fear.Leah Thomas, CEO, The Intersectional Environmentalist Thomas works to encourage various levels of advocacy among her audience, which could look like reposting an Instagram infographic or spearheading a grassroots movement. If brands want to get consumers interested in their sustainability efforts, she said they must employ a similarly welcoming tone by “meeting them where they are.” “It’s not always the easiest thing in the world to get people to engage with urgent issues, but I’ve learned happily that they do care,” she said, who also emphasized the importance of creating short-form, engaging content that make environmental conversations more accessible. “As advertisers and communications people, we need to do our part in making everybody feel like they can show up.” This story is part of Adweek’s The State of Sustainability digital package, which spotlights climate-focused marketing solutions across the beauty, experiential and media spaces, and examines how an industry that was built to drive consumption is adapting to reduce its impact. Adweek’s 2023 Sustainability Honorees Are Setting Advertising’s Climate Agenda

Sustainability Honors

Sustainability Creator Leah Thomas Wants Brands to Ditch the Corporate Comparison

The Adweek 2023 Sustainability Honoree’s advocacy replaces fear-based tactics with ‘climate optimism’

Emmy Liederman

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Emmy Liederman