It’s almost Earth Day. And if you’ve been through a few of these, you probably know the drill.
On April 22, marketing teams across the country will spring into action. There’ll be volunteers picking up trash in parks and along rivers, employees planting trees, and seed packets handed out like Halloween candy. Employees will get reusable grocery bags made from recycled bottles (because nothing says “we care” like a branded tote bag). There will be recycling drives, sustainability-themed events, and all kinds of creative events about how much we really love the Earth and want to protect it.
Social media feeds will light up with feel-good photos of employees holding shovels. Blogs will be posted with “10 ways to go green,” complete with stock images of seedlings and sunshine. PR teams will pitch stories about how their companies are singlehandedly saving wildlife, conserving resources, and shrinking their environmental footprint. Some will even get media coverage for it if there’s a good photo op.
Then, like clockwork, April 23 hits and it’s back to business as usual.
Earth? Oh yeah, we’ll check back in next year.
Now, this is the part where you say, “Hold on a second—you’re a PR agency. Aren’t you the ones telling us to do all this Earth Day stuff?”
Fair question. And here’s the truth: we are absolutely in favor of river cleanups, tree plantings, seed giveaways, reusable bags, all of it. These are good things. They create awareness, they bring people together, and they make for some genuinely nice moments.
But let’s be real. This isn’t 1999 anymore. Back then, you could host one big Earth Day event, snap a few photos for the company newsletter, and call it a win. No one was live-tweeting your carbon footprint, and the phrase “greenwashing” hadn’t made it into the group chat.
Today? It’s a different world. If your company says it cares about the planet, people expect to see that commitment in action all year long. Your employees notice. Your customers notice. And the internet definitely notices.
So yes, celebrate Earth Day. Do the tree thing. Post the pictures. But if you’re not walking the talk the other 364 days, people will smell the PR stunt a mile away—and they won’t be impressed.