Study reveals that Portuguese people are abandoning brands that pretend to be sustainable

A study by the Instituto Superior Miguel Torga (ISMT) in Coimbra revealed that the majority of Portuguese consumers, upon realizing that a brand is lying about its sustainable practices, stop purchasing products from that brand.

When they realize that the company is practicing 'greenwashing' – campaigns, seals or claims of environmental behavior that do not correspond to reality – the Portuguese stop buying the brand's products and look for more ethical alternatives, said the ISMT, in a statement sent to the Lusa news agency.

The brands most identified by respondents, which fit the 'greenwashing' model, include Volkswagen, cited by around 40% of the sample, followed by EDP and Galp.

The findings also demonstrate a pattern of broken trust, brand rejection and, often, outright abandonment.

"People are not just disappointed – they are reacting strongly to a type of deception they consider particularly serious: the abusive use of environmental causes for commercial purposes," said Célia Santos, professor and researcher at ISMT, who coordinated the study in co-authorship with Arnaldo Coelho, from the University of Coimbra, and Alzira Marques, from the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria.

For the professor, “this is a rational rupture, in which consumers feel they have been manipulated and respond by distancing themselves.”

This distancing is “intentional, informed and persistent”, often marking the end of the relationship between consumer and brand.

“The perception of inconsistency between environmental discourse and practice is not forgiven,” emphasized Célia Santos.

The research, which carried out a nationwide survey, identified two main mechanisms that explain the shift away: “green confusion” (difficulty in distinguishing whether a product is truly sustainable or simply promoted as such) and the emergence of extreme negative emotions, known as “brand hatred”.

"When consumers realize they can't trust the information they're given, they enter a state of alert. They become more suspicious, frustrated, and lose their sense of control over their purchasing decisions," he explained.

In this context, the reaction is to pursue ethical consumption, where the customer “tries to regain that control by choosing brands that they consider more transparent, even if that means changing habits or paying more.”

"The negative emotions that are generated, such as indignation or contempt, don't disappear with a new campaign or brand repositioning. On the contrary, they often become consolidated as forms of lasting rejection," the researcher noted.