In April 2023, Kaufland launched an extensive communication campaign, announcing that it was the first company in Romania certified as Zero Waste.
The campaign quickly drew criticism from journalists and environmental activists, entrepreneurs selling zero-waste products, and eco-responsible consumers.
The main accusation was false advertising. And the primary concern stemmed from the company's size, with Kaufland being one of the largest employers in Romania, boasting 17,000 employees, 160 stores nationwide, and probably hundreds of thousands, even millions of customers passing through their doors. These customers received this advertisement in stores or by mail, which you can discover by watching the video interview.
"If a company of such magnitude engages in such extensive deceptive advertising, on TV, radio, and streets, and it is overlooked, we will be fooled daily. By anyone, anytime," was the prevailing thought.
The issue became so inflamed that, at a conference held by the company to announce its entry into the Guinness World Records for the largest T-shirt made from recycled plastic bottles, several environmental activists boycotted the event and protested, displaying a large banner with the word GREENWASHING. In front of cameras. In front of journalists.
Greenwashing is the term given to marketing strategies through which companies try to appear greener, more ecological, more sustainable than they actually are. And it is an important topic for the European Commission, which recently proposed a directive by which such campaigns should be drastically sanctioned, with up to 4% of turnover.
Activists hoped that in this way, the topic would also become important for Romanian journalists. However, the television stations present did not cover the topic. They did not report on the protest.
Following the article published on eEco.ro, Kaufland issued a right of reply. It responded to some of the accusations. But not all of them.
And because the discussion had already extended to the business community, which was naturally interested in finding an outcome from which it could also learn something, I insisted all this time with the company, from the CEO and communication director downwards, to either grant an interview where all remaining questions could be answered, or to hold a broader debate on the wider topic of responsible communication, so that we could turn a scandal into something constructive.
To all learn something from this. And the Zero Waste campaign should only be one case study among many. Not a pretext to denigrate the Kaufland company.