MY PRODUCT, YOUR GREEN CHOICE: EXPLORING THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN INFLUENCER’S SUSTAINABILITY COMMUNICATION AND GREEN MARKETING STRATEGIES ON TIKTOK

Resumen

This paper examines the ways in which companies collaborate with green influencers on TikTok in order to combine sustainable communication with product sponsorship. TikTok, with its highly visual and meme-based communication style, offers companies a channel to align their marketing strategies with green messaging. Green influencers play a central role in this dynamic, blending activism and promotional content to raise awareness about sustainability while endorsing products. However, the actual willingness of these narratives to challenge the capitalist neoliberal logic has been questioned in the literature. A content and thematic analysis of 45 TikTok videos was conducted to see how companies express their environmental commitment through the affordances offered by the platform, including visual and viral aspects. Indeed, the aim of the paper is to explore the main actors, central themes and recurring narratives in these collaborations. The findings reveal that companies from diverse sectors integrate product sponsorship into educational narratives that inform users about environmental issues while positioning the sponsored product as a solution. This approach aligns with the storytelling styles of green influencers, potentially enhancing the credibility of their content. However, there is a predominant focus on individual behavioural changes with limited emphasis on collective action or broader societal responses to sustainability challenges. This reflects a tension that simultaneously critiques unsustainable practices while remaining rooted in neoliberal consumer logics. As a result, these collaborations may promote sustainable consumption but fail to address the social dimensions of sustainability, restricting the potential for fostering a more comprehensive approach to environmental advocacy.