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The clean beauty phenomenon is gaining momentum and beauty brands are getting creative with on-pack sustainability claims. With the increasing focus on sustainability from both brands and consumers, sustainability communication has the potential to raise the profile of sustainable production and consumption. Further attention is needed on the creative approach behind on-pack sustainability marketing communications as companies no longer focus on single eco labels but instead use a bundle of claims to advertise their commitment to sustainability which finds consumers confused and brands open to accusations of greenwashing. This chapter explores on-pack sustainability communications in the beauty industry through the lenses of creative marketing communications which need to be both original and appropriate. This study contributes to the longstanding debate on the role of sustainability claims in marketing communications and addresses the role of on-pack sustainability claims design and creativity.

The chapter aims to bridge theory-practice by proposing an in-depth examination of three cases of companies accused of greenwashing, namely Volkswagen for Dieselgate, Nestlè and Golden Agri-Resources (a palm oil plantation company included in DJSI). The chapter thus reflects on deliberate communicative practices and organisational processes that lie beyond the most visible manifestations of greenwashing. Drawing on these cases, common communication errors and practices of corporate misconduct in corporate sustainability are disclosed. Readers, such as practitioners, who are not interested in academic mechanisms and more in the practical effects of the phenomenon can appreciate the analysis of the cases linked with the presentation of a series of principles and guidelines. Managerial solutions to contrast the different types of greenwashing risks, and to reduce associated negative effects on corporate image and reputation, are presented.

Recognizing the existence of corporate social responsibility (CSR), and more precisely a social impact related to diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI), organizations today are confronted with the question of what is considered as good. How is the good life created and communicatively constructed inside an organization? Who (agent) is responsible to realize, secure, and manage the process of value creation and social change, or moral agency? I offer a new perspective on the ethical duty of public relations (PR) practitioners to be revolutionary, to be communicative rebels. I conceptualize PR from a critical theoretical perspective as process of problematization, as process of cracking open common sense and underlying systems of power and norms in an organization. Then I offer strategies for creating shared (communication) spaces in which to imagine and experience transformation and social change. In these spaces (huddles), good life is courageously problematized to offer a new narrative of sustainability including DEI as communicatively codesigned. The aim is to highlight opportunities and tools for PR practitioners and PR scholars to be revolutionary – more than an organization's conscience, but an agent of change for exciting, innovative, and transformative communication practices at the core of the discipline.

This final chapter moves from a firm-level perspective to a more general level to connect individual organisational decisions on corporate sustainability to current and future societal and environmental challenges. The chapter starts by illustrating greenhushing, seen as a deceptive strategic silence that occurs when companies voluntarily decrease their communication on sustainability issues. The emergence of novel forms of greenwashing stresses the need to integrate the principles of sustainability in their corporate strategies in an authentic way, and to activate a virtuous circuit of sustainability sensegiving-sensemaking, in which the company can recognise the contribution of stakeholders in decision-making. The discussion then addresses some unresolved tensions in sustainability communication approaches that cause ‘deep-rooted’ greenwashing, thus paving the way for a systemic approach to the phenomenon. The chapter thus presents some speculative sketches that illustrate the social, organisational and environmental costs and benefits of an authentic approach to corporate sustainability. The discussion emphasises the need to establish a shared sustainability culture at different systems' levels and within organisations to avoid environmental and social damaging practices and widen corporate objectives to initiate long-lasting changes. Policy and decision-makers may appreciate this effort to identify responsibilities for each component and priority areas for action.

The established role of communication in sustainability studies is mainly to transmit information, about or for sustainability: disciplinary knowledge or mobilization of popular support. This chapter addresses the sustainability of communication itself, with a performance accounting framework for sustainability of organizational communication. The organizational emphasis derives from incorporating basic concepts from the work of James R. Taylor and the “Montreal School” approach to theorizing organizational communication. Communication as “text” (discursive formats and genres) and “conversation” (interactive, situational sense-making, and exchange) is assessed according to narrative and dramatistic logics in addition to instrumental ones; and sustainability standards are applied to “triadic” dimensions of communications: (1) the physical-artifactual substratum, or “carriers” of communication, including technologies, (2) symbolic forms that convey information, meanings, and ideologies, and (3) relations and interactions of communicative role-playing. The goal is to provide for sustainable knowledge, meaning, and participation mainly in organizational settings.

Social network analysis (SNA) may be useful in the exploration of the potential intersection between organizations, human relations (HR), public relations (PR), and corporate social responsibility (CSR) or sustainability issues. In an age of PR, social media have an important function, as reflected in the employee engagement movement. Visualization through mapping of Twitter data allows researchers to identify centers of social influence in which content travels through key accounts during sharing. Computer-mediated communication (CMC) concepts of identity, interaction, and community offer potential for future research.

In recent years, there has been a growing importance of sustainability communication and the role of the Internet in contemporary corporate communication that has allowed the diversification of information dissemination tools. Thus, the objective of this study is to determine the quantity and nature of the content of the information related to sustainability disclosed through the corporate website of Portuguese metal mould companies. The results obtained based on the content analysis seem to indicate that the number of metal mould companies that discloses sustainability information is quite low. Those who disclose information are in a very limited way whether in quantity or in relation to the type of information disclosed. Considering the various dimensions of sustainability, the information disclosed about environmental and social aspects is scarce. The focus is on aspects related to the economic dimension, particularly in the areas related to products and services and customers.

The purpose of this chapter is to analyze public relations management in a group of Ecuadorian organizations to propose recommendations that contribute to the advancement of their sustainability processes. This study is based on the contemporary theories of corporate social responsibility by Garriga and Melé (2004), the public relations models by Grunig and Hunt (2000), and the evolutionary vision of the collaboration continuum for sustainability by Austin (2005). Based on these approaches, the authors proposed four evolutionary contexts through which the organizations move based on their sustainability and communications endeavors. A questionnaire was created to identify the theoretical orientation of an organization’s sustainability processes and public relations model. The questionnaire was applied in 16 large-sized Ecuadorian organizations involved in different economic activities. It was observed that in some cases, sustainability and public relations activities converge in the same evolutionary context while in others they do not. Thus, four possible scenarios and recommendations are presented. The questionnaire can be applied in future research to propose new conclusions or recommendations. Communications professionals can access an instrument to diagnose the communications function within their organizations and receive guidance on how they can contribute to the advancement of the sustainability process.

The chapter addresses the use of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as an indicator of social change and progress towards sustainability by analysing how stakeholders shift their CSR perceptions in different economic conjunctures between visions that are closer to communication or to governance as structures of network interaction. A matrix is presented that defines four models of CSR perception by integrating theoretical approaches of CSR framed by market or by society, by communication or by governance. Stakeholders’ perceptions are then positioned in the matrix through qualitative analysis of the diverse definitions, constructions and positions with respect to CSR made and adopted by corporate agents, social stakeholders and communicators in their discourses. The study proves that changes in how actors perceive and explain self-governed CSR do not depend so much on economic factors as on the networks of stakeholder interaction through communication and governance. Mapping CSR stakeholders’ perceptions indicates changes and limiting actors, but is not enough to isolate the triggers of those changes. The maps provide a starting point for further exploration of (de)politicization, framing, and understanding of CSR communication and governance, and for the analysis of the limitations of the current model of CSR self-governance. The theoretical approach and methodology provide a framework that integrates communication and governance as relational structures of network interaction in CSR.