To bio or not to bio. A linguistic investigation of green policies in Italian retail products

Abstract

This paper examines the linguistic features of a set of brand names, labels, and slogans related to green policies, and analyzes their effectiveness in the Italian retail market. After collecting a microcorpus, we examine, mostly following a qualitative approach, the textual and linguistic data emerging from it, especially focusing on lexical, morphological, and syntactic strategies used to convey messages about product naturalness and environmental impact, in terms of sustainability of the manufacturing process, waste management, and recycling. Moreover, we consider packaging-related semiotic aspects and other linguistic and paralinguistic phenomena, as the integration of different languages. In addition, we analyze consumers’ perception of sustainability messages in the context of sustainable retailing through a questionnaire. Our findings indicate that consumers perceive green messages as calls to action, highlighting a collaborative effort between producers and consumers to promote environmental sustainability.