Thread by @cwdekeyzer

I'm hesitant to jump on #PollinatorWeek and provide my expertise & best bee pics for free. This week is supposed to bring greater awareness to the importance of pollinators 🐝🦋🪲🪰🦎🦇 but looking at the latest tweets, it's mostly being used for advertising. I have some thoughts

The #PollinatorWeek initiative was started 13 years ago by an NGO to promote pollinator conservation -- great!

However, this NGO accepts sponsorship $ from big ag & pesticide companies like @Syngenta @ValentBioSci & @Bayer4Crops -- not so great!

The success of this week seems like a #beewashing win for these companies. Their names and logos are on the posters, websites, etc. and their posts about #SaveTheBees get mixed in with legitimate conservation initiatives... I wonder, is this difference obvious to a non-expert?

These companies are combatting their bad image (e.g., known poisoning of pollinators) by donating to this initiative, but I think more importantly: when conservationists/scientists use this hashtag (#PollinatorWeek) it works to legitimize the #beewashing content also found there

I would not doubt that the companies sponsoring this initiative are reporting to shareholders on the success of this week. They'll have their Twitter stats on hand: huge #s of impressions/engagement on their "pollinator-friendly" posts. IMO it's a bit of a marketing masterpiece.

I'm not saying don't use the #. It seems like great free advertising, esp. if you have a really good thing to promote (bee-washing.com 😉)

My take-home is more like: before you #PollinatorWeek, consider whether your post will help pollinators more than it will help Bayer