by Karry Schwettmann

When you have joined or followed the news about a #BlackLivesMatter protest in your city, you might have seen this statement on a banner before. Indeed, our decision to launch a directory and column about “colorwashing” was sparked by the recent uprise of the Black Lives Matter Movement. But don’t get me wrong, it has nothing to do with washing your laundry color-appropriately ;) 

Rather, the guide is a reaction to a phenomenon that we observe to be increasingly present in the current brand landscape. Because not only people take to the streets, raise their voices and public awareness. Brands do too. They post black squares on Instagram. They take a stand on racism by publishing a support statement or offering Black and Indigenous People of Color their platform to amplify their voice. As much as we appreciate brands stand up for a social movement, we cannot always be sure if their expressions are real or in fact a cheap ride on a wave of public outrage to market their product (or service). 

In observation of the latter, I found it’s time to coin a new term: colorwashing. Until now, you will mostly find it connected to hair dyes and coloring techniques but here I come with a new definition: 

Akin to greenwashing, colorwashing is a marketing strategy to monetize on people’s personal values and their identification with specific communities or movements.  But as the name suggests, there’s not just greenwashing. There’s pink-, brown- and rainbow-washing too. As more and more terms pop up describing the various practices of “woke washing”, we want to support the conversation by doing two things:

1. Keep track of the various terms and their meanings through our new directory of the most common colorwashing strategies.

2. Keep exercising what colorwashing is and how it’s being expressed through a bi-weekly column. Every two weeks, I will zoom into one chosen brand activity and evaluate it according to the transformation/communication-action alignment chart, which you see below. If you you want to understand better how it’s being applied, check out my last article: Brand Activism vs. Greenwashing.

Why is it important to be aware? For us consumers, colorwashing is often hard to spot. And for corporations it’s hard not to fall into the colorwashing trap. The directory and the column is a way to continuously explore how real transformation looks like while we become empowered consumers.

Now it’s your turn! Is there any brand activity in the past days or weeks that has caught your attention? Where you were asking yourself whether that brand engages in green- or colorwashing or not? If yes, let me know. Just fill out the form below and it might be featured in one of my next columns.

Please note that I cannot guarantee to tackle all submissions. My decision will be based on three criteria: the reach of the brand, quality of controversy (does it add a new perspective to the column?) and the availability of facts. But I will make sure to take a look. Thanks for your contribution!