The Virtues of Green Marketing: A Constructive Take on Corporate Rhetoric (Rhetoric, Politics and Society)

This open access book explores the idea that corporate rhetoric can be a force for good. In developing a new framework for analysis and discussion of green marketing, the authors argue that corporate environmental rhetoric can be harnessed to contribute to climate transition and a more sustainable market economy. The work explores the transformative power inherent in green promises and sets a vision of what green marketers should strive for. Engaging with selected research on organizational theory, the authors negotiate the conflicting paradigms of rhetorical theory and their relation to the study of corporate legitimation practices. The resulting theoretical framework provides an analytical scheme that can be useful in various disciplines – such as sociology, economics, law, marketing theory, and communication. It also illustrates how we can find new answers to contemporary challenges by re-imagining rhetoric. This is an open access book. Prologue Preface Funding Contents Chapter 1: Introduction: A New Framework for Green Marketing 1.1 Sins and Virtues 1.2 Positioning and Some Key Concepts 1.3 Overview of This Book References Chapter 2: A Constructive Turn: Toward Harnessing the Potential of Green Promises References Chapter 3: Institutional Theory and Green Legitimation 3.1 Organizational Legitimacy 3.2 The Institutional Paradigm 3.3 Some Strategies for Gaining Legitimacy References Chapter 4: Attempts at Co-reading Institutional and Rhetorical Theory 4.1 Further Correlating Legitimacy Theory and Ethos Analysis 4.2 The Aristotelian Paradigm—Dominant Albeit Deficient 4.3 Appearances, Doxa, and the Amorality of Rhetoric References Chapter 5: Revisiting the Rhetorical Tradition and Acquainting Ourselves with the Virtuous Orator 5.1 Isocrates: Rhetorical Action for the Civic Good 5.2 Cicero on Harmonious Propriety, and Quintilian on Character Development 5.3 Lessons from Classical Rhetoric References Chapter 6: From the Sins of Greenwashing to the Virtues of Green Marketing 6.1 Taking Stock: The Traditional Virtues 6.2 Developing the Scheme: Flipping the Sins 6.3 Green Marketing as Climate Communication References Chapter 7: Some Implications for Law 7.1 On Possible Venues for Legal Development 7.2 Regulatory Development Is Only Part of the Solution References Chapter 8: The Framework of Virtue Critique 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Analytical Principles for Virtue Critique 8.2.1 Principle 1—The Principle of Situationality 8.2.2 Principle 2—The Principle of Multiple Motives 8.2.3 Principle 3—The Principle of Multiple Effects 8.2.4 Principle 4—The Principle of Multiple Audiences 8.2.5 Principle 5—The Principle of Prudence and Transparency 8.3 Further Reflections on Audience Construction References Chapter 9: Exploring the Virtue Framework: Environmental Labels, Clean Clothes, and Green Energy Capitalism 9.1 Putting the Framework to Use 9.2 Ecolabels: The Strategies and Struggles of Standardization 9.3 Clean Clothes, Circular Economy, and the Speed of Fashion 9.4 Balanced Corporate Rhetoric: Challenges and Possibilities in Marketing Energy References Chapter 10: Green Marketing as Manifest Performance of Ethical Judgment References References Index