Nachhaltigkeit, Inklusion, Diversity vs. Greenwashing, Bluewashing, Pinkwashing, Wokewashing ... Was sagt die x-washing-Metaphorik über Nachhaltigkeitsdiskurse aus?

The article focuses on the opposition between high-value concepts such as “sustainability”, “inclusion” and “diversity” on the one hand, and discourse criticism as manifested in terms such as (in German) “Greenwashing”, “Bluewashing”, “Pinkwashing”, “Wokewashing” etc. on the other. The question of what lends plausibility and acceptance to sustainability communication is addressed, as well as the question of what contributes to a consensus on the should-value or deontic term “sustainability”. A brief look is taken at the underlying topoi, furthermore at the multidimensionality of the term “sustainability” in the sense of ecological, social and economic sustainability, and finally at the hypocrisy criticism, accusation of instrumentalization or manipulation, as they are reflected in current and some earlier phases of German discourse history (e. g. Jung 1994).