Re: Fietsindustrie en -ambachtseconomie
Geplaatst: 11 okt 2021 18:47
Vandaag werd dit (niet door mij) gepost op instagram door the.european.bike.project
Niet iedereen hier zal een insta-account hebben dus maar ff geen link maar gekopieerd. T' is niet echt groot nieuws maar onderstreept nog een keer alle marketing bullshit die rondwaart en dat " we" daar toch echt wel gevoelig voor zijn (not).
You've probably come across the term "greenwashing", which describes tactics used by marketing departments to make us think that their products are environmentally friendly.
Examples of greenwashing are the use of trees in a company logo or the use of green colour for product packaging. It can also involve statements such as "we care about mother earth" or "our product X is environmentally friendly", while these sentences are not backed by any scientific data or real efforts.
During my work for this blog, I've come across countless companies that use similar tactics when it comes to the question where their products are made. I call this originwashing.
For many companies it seems to be incredibly difficult to say: "These 350 EUR cycling shoes are made in China". They rather say things like:
"Made according to our Italian shoemaking tradition."
"This product really shows its "made in UK" history."
"Our bikes are built in Germany." (read: assembled in Germany)
"We are a Dutch company and our products are proudly made with our own Dutch know-how."
"Born in Europe."
(all examples are fictituous)
It's obvious that companies know that locally made products are sought-after and some will try everything to trick you into thinking that their products are locally made. There's a very fine line between marketing talk and statements which violate unfair competition or origin laws.
What worries me even more is that some bike media do the same and do not differentiate between "based in" and "made in" at all. I mostly read bike media that are published in English and German and I've noticed that some magazines have big difficulties when it comes to this topic. When they write about "three new bikes that come straight from the UK" and all these bikes are absolutely not made there, I really wonder: Do they do it on purpose? Or don't they know better? It's not like the language wouldn't allow a more precise wording. You could say: "Three bikes from UK brands.." or similar things.
Whether you want to buy locally made products or not is a different question, but we should at least be able to make informed decisions.
#originwashing #stoporiginwashing
Niet iedereen hier zal een insta-account hebben dus maar ff geen link maar gekopieerd. T' is niet echt groot nieuws maar onderstreept nog een keer alle marketing bullshit die rondwaart en dat " we" daar toch echt wel gevoelig voor zijn (not).
You've probably come across the term "greenwashing", which describes tactics used by marketing departments to make us think that their products are environmentally friendly.
Examples of greenwashing are the use of trees in a company logo or the use of green colour for product packaging. It can also involve statements such as "we care about mother earth" or "our product X is environmentally friendly", while these sentences are not backed by any scientific data or real efforts.
During my work for this blog, I've come across countless companies that use similar tactics when it comes to the question where their products are made. I call this originwashing.
For many companies it seems to be incredibly difficult to say: "These 350 EUR cycling shoes are made in China". They rather say things like:
"Made according to our Italian shoemaking tradition."
"This product really shows its "made in UK" history."
"Our bikes are built in Germany." (read: assembled in Germany)
"We are a Dutch company and our products are proudly made with our own Dutch know-how."
"Born in Europe."
(all examples are fictituous)
It's obvious that companies know that locally made products are sought-after and some will try everything to trick you into thinking that their products are locally made. There's a very fine line between marketing talk and statements which violate unfair competition or origin laws.
What worries me even more is that some bike media do the same and do not differentiate between "based in" and "made in" at all. I mostly read bike media that are published in English and German and I've noticed that some magazines have big difficulties when it comes to this topic. When they write about "three new bikes that come straight from the UK" and all these bikes are absolutely not made there, I really wonder: Do they do it on purpose? Or don't they know better? It's not like the language wouldn't allow a more precise wording. You could say: "Three bikes from UK brands.." or similar things.
Whether you want to buy locally made products or not is a different question, but we should at least be able to make informed decisions.
#originwashing #stoporiginwashing