In 2024, Greenhushing Will Become 'Green Silence'

As we near what's expected to be a divisive election season, experts expect brands to avoid messaging that could be considered political—and in the U.S. especially, that includes climate change. The 2024 election season is arriving at a time when greenhushing, a term used to describe brand hesitancy around environmental or climate-related actions they might be taking, is already on the rise. Fear of Greenwashing Is Forcing Brands Into Greenhushing "[Greenhushing] will become green silence towards the second half of this year," Solitaire Townsend, co-founder and chief solutionist at sustainability-focused agency Futerra, told Adweek. "You'll find mass consumer brands being quite quiet, and you'll see luxury and Gen Z brands dialing [climate messaging] up a lot." Green silence amid record heat As marketers greenhushed, last year proved to be the hottest on record and climate-fueled natural disasters became much more real for Americans. From wildfire smoke-induced orange skies in New York and horrifying fires on Maui to flooding in Vermont, atmospheric rivers in the Western states, drought and extreme heat in the Southwest and hurricanes in Southern California, people in the U.S. experienced climate change on a new level. Scientists predict that 2024 could be even hotter and more dangerous—something that's likely to be true for many years to come, even if the world can curb emissions in the next decade. Ahead of an election is arguably the most important time for any powerful entity to discuss this reality. Recipe for Disaster: Impossible Foods CEO Says Plant-Based Meat Marketing’s ‘Wokeness’ Hurt the Category "[Advertisers are] very nervous about saying anything about anything, and that's a huge problem," said John Osborn, director of Ad Net Zero USA. "The only way we can move further faster is by being comfortable enough in our own skin to talk about what's really working and, dare I say, even the things that are not." Last year, brands like Bud Light and Target faced backlash from both sides of the political spectrum after groups disagreed with their actions in support of LGBTQ+ people. Those events seem to have created something of a chilling effect, leading brands to either scale back or simply keep quiet about purpose-focused initiatives—especially those that some would consider progressive, or woke. Tension is to be expected Still, green silence could be a small piece of the very tension that's expected that ultimately drives social change, noted Jonathan Wise, co-founder of climate-focused ad network, Purpose Disruptors. Throughout 2023, there was a noted increase in activism targeting the ad industry's impact on the climate crisis. Industry groups like Clean Creatives and Creatives for Climate executed splashier actions, and even mainstream climate activist groups like Extinction Rebellion targeted ad agencies for their relationships with fossil fuel clients. As pressure from activists, climate-minded ad professionals and external climate bodies increased, those protecting the status quo doubled down—prompting some brands to scale back their communications on climate-related work, wary of backlash, Wise explained. But that resulting tension is only likely to increase throughout this year, especially given the divisiveness that elections tend to foster. And that doesn't mean advertisers shouldn't face the reality of what climate scientists are saying, translate that logically into the influence their work has, and then work toward a livable future. "It's going to be a real rock and a hard place for brands," Townsend said. "We've got cohorts of consumers coming through who demand this information, increasing rules about greenwash [and] these very big extremes in terms of what we might get held [accountable] for, publicly."

Sustainability News

Greenhushing Morphs to Green Silence Ahead of Election Season

Despite the need for climate literacy, major brands will likely avoid the conversation for fear of backlash

Kathryn Lundstrom

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Kathryn Lundstrom