“Protect our planet – fly with Vietjet”, doesn’t this statement sound a little contradicting? It is personally a challenge for me to understand how choosing a certain airline could help protect the environment, if i truly wanted to “protect our planet”, i should consider not flying at all, as carbon emissions from flights continue to damage the atmosphere. Before we get overly critical, let’s explore what Vietjet has to offer in their marketing and sales promotion that takes advantage of environmental issues.
Having officially announced their expansion of 5 new direct routes from Vietnam to India, Vietjet has offered “50% discount special promotion” appealing to environmentally conscious travellers through its “Protect our planet – Fly with Vietjet” program. According to Vietjet’s official website, the Fly with Vietjet program “involves a series of meaningful activities, such as “let’s clean up the ocean”, “Take action against plastic waste”, as well as charity activities in India, and much more”. Although the efforts taken seem to target ocean plastics (yes, we are thankful for that), there does not seem to be initiatives targeted towards carbon emissions. It is also worth noting that the planes used by Vietjet are the Airbus Sharklet A320 and A321, which are known to be relatively more environmentally-friendly as compared to other jetliners due to its efficiency in carrying capacity.
Multiple Vietjet promotional image seen above promotes flights through an environmental cause, however, alongside provides no information with regards to how consumers can feel less guilty travelling with them. What gets me most is how these terms like “Fly Green” and “Protect our Planet” are used on such a groundless basis without much justification or information, solely intended to market their flights. Although we do not discredit the efforts that Vietjet are making towards a greener environment, its promotional efforts may be quite misleading and disingenuous.
The environmental impacts caused through flying are detrimental to the environment, thus, Vietjet’s promotion of protecting our planets does only only seem disingenuous but may actually promote further negative implications to the environment. The promotions provide a false sense of security, making travellers feel as if they are “benefiting” the environment. As cliche as it sounds, everyone has a part to play in affecting the environment, corporations may attempt to greenwash, thus, as consumers we need to equip ourselves with the knowledge as to make the informed decision. Let’s all be environmentally woke consumers!
References
VietJetAir. (2018). Vietjet officially announces five direct routes to India, linking Vietnam with the world’s third largest market of 1.3 billion people. Retrieved from https://www.vietjetair.com/Sites/Web/en-us/NewsDetail/news/%204201/vietjet-officially-announces-five-direct-routes-to-india-linking-vietnam-with-the-worlds-third-largest-market-of-13-billion-people
VietJetAir. (2020). Immense Vietnam Fly Green With Vietjet. Retrieved from https://www.vietjetair.com/Sites/Web/en-US/NewsDetail/hot-deals/%204359/immense-vietnam-fly-green-with-vietjet
VietJetAir. (2020). Protect Our Planet, Fly With Vietjet. Retrieved from https://www.vietjetair.com/Sites/Web/en-US/NewsDetail/hot-deals/4241/protect-our-planet-fly-with-vietjet
Hicks, R. (2020, February 26). Vietnam airline called out for greenwash promotion: ‘Protect our plant – fly with Vietjet’. Eco-business. Retrieved from https://www.eco-business.com/news/vietnam-airline-called-out-for-greenwash-promotion-protect-our-planet-fly-with-vietjet/?sw-signup=true