Dual Nature

On a Paradox within Green Marketing

Abstract

How do companies construct their relationship with nature in a time of skepticism towards green rhetoric? This article highlights and conceptualizes the paradox that arises when companies portray themselves as being in a close and harmonious relationship with nature, while an opposing perception of the company as a parasitic organism in conflict with nature is simultaneously established. The article conceptualizes this nature paradox and demonstrates how it is negotiated rhetorically. The discussion is carried out through an analysis of metaphors on the website and social media of the outdoor company Fjällräven. The analysis shows
how Fjällräven employs a seductive rhetoric of symbiosis, and how they manage the paradox through a dissociation where the concept of nature is divided into two: one being nature as an experience, and the other being nature as a resource. The company shapes an ethos as nature lovers, tied to a Nordic outdoor experience-nature. This ethos is then metaphorically used to establish credibility as a sustainable company in relation to a resource nature that has been rhetorically obscured.