Corporate Greenwashing and Canada Goose: Exploring the Legitimacy–Aesthetic Nexus

Abstract

Public discourse on environmental responsibility and sustainability continues to pressure corporations, especially those that have been portrayed as key contributors of environmental harm. Greenwashing is a strategy that companies adopt to engage in symbolic communications with environmental issues without substantially addressing them in actions. This paper aims to raise awareness of corporate greenwashing, drawing attention to issues that progress the trend of individualized responsibility and consumption, while concealing the social and (eco)systemic issues in the process. By drawing on the case study of winter apparel company Canada Goose, this paper questions whether businesses can ‘go green’ in good faith, if corporate responsibility and environmental responsibility can ever be reconciled, and if there is considerable need to clarify the intended effects and unintended consequences of corporate greenwashing.