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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.
“[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.
“[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.”
