These days every ad campaign claims to save the planet, but how do we separate the real impact from recycled PR?
From FMCG giants to boutique agencies, everyone’s draping themselves in green – sometimes quite literally.
But with floods displacing communities in Kelantan, haze returning to our skies, and rising temperatures across Southeast Asia, we’re long past the point where planting a tree offsets the damage done by a thousand media buys.
So here’s the uncomfortable question: Can marketing – a discipline designed to sell more – ever be truly sustainable?
Jake Dubbins, co-founder of the Conscious Advertising Network, didn’t mince words.
“We need to be super honest that the industry drives growth, which drives emissions,” he said.
Growth has long been the god we pray to – measured in clicks, conversions, and consumer demand.
But in a world hurtling toward ecological collapse, should we still worship at its altar?
In Malaysia, where palm oil plantations replace forests, and where digital marketing budgets have overtaken traditional media spends, the conversation around sustainability often skims the surface.
Brands proclaim their switch to recycled packaging while flooding social media with high-energy video campaigns streamed across millions of devices.
Are we changing the planet or just the optics?
Ad Net Zero: Real Commitment or Marketing Muscle-Flex?
Globally, initiatives like Ad Net Zero are trying to bring structure to the chaos.
This five-point action plan for agencies, brands, and marketers aims to reduce carbon emissions across every stage of advertising—from pre-production to media delivery.
Frank Maguire of Equativ pointed out that tools like GreenPMPs are making lower-emission media buys easier, and carbon calculators are becoming common in responsible media planning.
Yet, in Malaysia, how many agencies are actually using them?
A handful of progressive outfits like Fishermen Integrated and Bonsey Jaden have taken sustainability seriously in recent years—rethinking content production, reducing travel footprints, and joining platforms like Change the Brief.
But these efforts remain niche, often treated as boutique CSR add-ons rather than industry-standard operating procedures.
Malaysian Brands: Talking Green, Walking the Tightrope
Some local giants are trying.
Nestlé Malaysia has launched its Project RELeaf, aimed at reforestation along degraded riverbanks and highlands to counter climate risks.
It has also committed to making all its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025.
But how do these efforts compare to the brand’s heavy reliance on plastics in packaging across convenience stores?
Grab Malaysia, meanwhile, has introduced a carbon offset feature within its app, allowing users to contribute RM0.10 per ride towards tree planting efforts.
While commendable, critics argue the offset model still doesn’t address the platform’s growing delivery fleet and emissions.
And while carbon offsetting is often positioned as a solution, it’s increasingly seen as a bandage—not a cure.
And then there’s Petronas—perhaps the most watched and most questioned brand in this space.
While it champions ESG narratives and has released moving sustainability-themed festive ads, many remain sceptical about its real-world impact as Malaysia’s largest oil and gas producer.
In 2022, it launched its ‘Gentari’ brand to drive renewable energy and hydrogen adoption.
Yet, the marketing machine still runs strong for its core petroleum business.
These examples illustrate the tension between ambition and authenticity.
They raise an uncomfortable question for marketers: Are we amplifying green action—or green distractions?
The Digital Dilemma: Is Going Online Really Green?
There’s a dangerous myth in the industry: that digital is automatically sustainable.
But let’s be clear—data doesn’t run on sunshine.
The energy required to stream TikToks, deliver programmatic ads, and generate AI content is staggering.
According to Mike Berners-Lee, yearly email usage alone could generate up to 150 million tonnes of CO2e globally.
In Malaysia, where digital marketing accounts for nearly 70% of total ad spend, we’re doubling down on data-heavy formats—think YouTube pre-rolls, Meta retargeting, TikTok influencers.
But are we even measuring the carbon cost of these impressions?
Katie Drew of Born Social rightly points out that media isn’t “clean” just because it’s not printed.
“Media efficiency, smarter targeting and fewer but better assets are important,” she says.
In other words, the answer isn’t more, it’s better—a mantra our local marketers would do well to remember.
Advertising’s Other Dirty Secret: Funding Disinformation
Beyond carbon footprints, there’s a more sinister impact. Jake Dubbins warns that opaque ad tech ecosystems are often unknowingly funding climate disinformation.
That’s right, your programmatic media buy could be financing a blog that denies global warming or trivialises the climate crisis.
In Malaysia, where media transparency is already a challenge, this risk is amplified.
While most marketers here remain unaware of where their digital dollars actually land, industry leaders need to start demanding brand-safe, climate-conscious inventory—not just for PR optics, but to avoid inadvertently fuelling the very narratives we claim to oppose.
What’s the Way Forward?
Pamela Noakes of M+C Saatchi says it best: “True sustainability isn’t just about the channel, it’s about what we’re promoting.”
It’s not enough to run a low-emissions campaign if the product you’re pushing relies on exploitative labour, excess plastic, or fossil fuels.
In Malaysia, that means asking hard questions: Should we take on briefs from fast fashion brands flooding landfills?
Should we greenlight campaigns for cars that guzzle fuel or delivery services that exploit gig workers?
Local government-linked bodies like MDEC (Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation) have begun advocating for sustainable digital ecosystems under its #SayaDigital campaign and have partnered with green startups but marketers need to translate such policies into campaign practice, not just pitch decks.
A Mindset Shift, Not a Message Tweak
The real change won’t come from a new tool, a shiny framework, or a catchy slogan.
It requires a mindset shift from marketers, clients, and creatives alike.
As Noakes says, “There are no profits on a dead planet.”
This isn’t a rhetorical flourish.
It’s the truth.
Brands that want to survive tomorrow need to embed sustainability into their DNA today from the boardroom to the briefing room.
For Malaysian marketers, that means bold steps.
Turn down pitches that don’t align with sustainability goals.
Rethink your production processes.
Cut down on unnecessary asset versions.
Start measuring the real-world impact of your campaigns—not just their virality.
Most importantly, stop using “green” as a colour palette for award entries.
Use it as a principle to guide everything you do.
Because if we’re not part of the solution, we’re part of the smokescreen.
The APPIES is an annual event that presents a rare opportunity for creative, media, digital and marketing agencies or brands to present their best campaigns to the industry.
This is the only event where Live Presentations meets Live Judging.
Similar to TED Talks, The APPIES is the chance for great presenters with outstanding work to show it off to some of the industry’s most important industry leaders.
This year’s winners will receive Gold, Silver or Bronze trophies for 21 categories, and 6 special Best of Best categories (red trophies) that require no submissions!
Campaign entries must have run between June 2024 to May 2025
