Suzy Stegelmeier - 2024

 

Artist's Statement

Greenwashing, as defined by Merriam-Webster is, “the act or practice of making a product, policy, activity, etc. appear to be more environmentally friendly or less environmentally damaging than it really is.”

This poster highlights the nature of greenwashing and its detrimental impact on our planet. At its core, greenwashing represents a calculated manipulation of language and imagery by corporations, obscuring the environmental footprint of their products and services.

Through the deceptive use of buzzwords and trademarked terms, companies seek to portray themselves as champions of sustainability while perpetuating practices that degrade our ecosystems. They claim to be making changes and striving for “carbon zero,” and “sustainability,” yet their empty words betray them even more than their empty actions. The poster displays a comprehensive list of words that have been copyrighted so corporations cannot use them to falsely advertise their products as environmentally virtuous. These terms have been stripped of their genuine meaning and repurposed as manipulation tools.

This work is a double-sided fold-out poster designed for sharing information, an informational call to action brochure that opens up to poster. Through this artwork, I invite viewers to examine the narratives presented to them and question the authenticity behind claims of environmental stewardship. By creating this awareness, we empower ourselves to make informed choices and hold corporations accountable for their actions. Ultimately, I aim to inspire a shift towards genuine sustainability—one rooted in transparency, accountability, and actual efforts to minimize the harm we continue to cause to our planet. My hope is that this poster will serve as a motivation for reflection and action, starting conversations and pushing for change in our fight to save our mother planet.