NEW YORK, March 19, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Glimpact, the first platform for analyzing the overall systemic environmental impact of products and organizations, released today their holiday ad campaign study revealing surprising insights into the environmental footprint of leading brands’ social media ad campaigns. The study assessed video ads posted on TikTok between November 11 and December 31, 2024, from brands including H&M, Burberry, Lululemon, Old Navy, Macy’s, Abercrombie, Ralph Lauren, Zara, and Victoria’s Secret, using the PEF method to quantify their environmental impact.
The PEF (Product Environmental Footprint) method is a standardized, science-based approach developed by the European Commission to assess the environmental impact of products and organizations across their entire life cycle. By analyzing multiple impact categories beyond carbon emissions, including resource depletion and pollution, the PEF method provides a comprehensive and comparable measure of sustainability performance.
H&M Leads in Views and Environmental Impact, with Significant Reduction Opportunities
H&M’s TikTok ad had the highest environmental impact of the nine campaigns analyzed, with 8.4 million views and a footprint equivalent to driving halfway around the globe. Campaigns from Lululemon and Burberry followed, each with an environmental impact comparable to driving across the Atlantic Ocean twice. In contrast, brands with fewer views, such as Abercrombie, Macy’s, and Old Navy, had the lowest environmental footprints.
To compare the impact of different campaigns more effectively, Glimpact assessed environmental footprint per 1,000 views. This revealed that video length, file size, and resolution are major drivers of environmental impact—factors well within brands’ control. Shorter, lighter videos significantly reduce the overall footprint, providing a clear opportunity for brands to make their digital advertising more sustainable.
Beyond Carbon: Broader Environmental Impacts Must Be Addressed
The study found that carbon emissions (climate change impact) accounted for only 30-33% of an ad campaign’s environmental footprint. Other key contributors included mineral and metal resource use (20-29%), fossil fuel consumption, and particulate matter pollution. This highlights the importance of considering a broad range of environmental factors beyond carbon emissions when assessing sustainability efforts.
End-User Devices Drive Majority of Impact
The study revealed that 80-85% of the environmental impact of digital ads comes from the devices used to view them. While energy consumption contributes to this footprint, the production of smartphones, tablets, and computers—particularly the extraction and processing of finite mineral and metal resources—plays a leading role. For H&M’s campaign, 27% of the total environmental impact was attributed to the production of these devices alone.
TikTok’s Format Increases Environmental Impact
Glimpact also found that TikTok’s video-heavy, full-screen format results in approximately 10% higher environmental impact than other social media platforms when running the same ad. This suggests that brands can further reduce their footprint by optimizing content for different platforms.
Actionable Insights for Brands to Reduce Impact
Brands looking to minimize the environmental impact of their digital ad campaigns can take several steps:
- Reduce video length and file size: Lighter, shorter videos significantly lower environmental footprint. For example, reducing the Lululemon video length and weight by 25% correlates to a 25% reduction in overall campaign impact.
- Choose platforms strategically: Running the same ad on platforms like YouTube instead of TikTok could reduce impact—H&M’s campaign, for example, would have saved emissions equivalent to a drive from Los Angeles to Austin.
- Educate consumers on viewing habits: Encouraging users to watch ads on smartphones rather than tablets, which have 8 times the impact, can help reduce overall footprint.
“The environmental footprint of brands’ digital ad campaigns often goes overlooked, but it is substantial. Brands need to acknowledge this impact and assess it with a systemic approach. In this way, they can understand where their impact comes from, identify the real stakes of the ecological transition, and act credibly and effectively to contribute to a resolution for the environmental crisis,” stated Christophe Girardier, Co-Founder and CEO of Glimpact.
To view the full study, visit https://www.glimpactnews.com/h-m-holiday-tiktok-ads-environmental-impact.
About this Study
This study was performed to analyze the environmental impact of video advertisements. The advertisements chosen for this study were published by H&M, Burberry, Lululemon, Old Navy, Macy’s, Abercrombie, Ralph Lauren, Zara, and Victoria’s Secret. This study considered the environmental impact of video ads published on TikTok between November 11th and December 31st 2024; ad engagement statistics were recorded between January 9th and January 11th 2025. This study was performed using the Glimpact technology, which has the capability of modelling the environmental impact of a media campaign across its entire life cycle, according to the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) method. For more information on the framework for this study, evaluating the environmental impact of media campaigns, or the Glimpact SaaS platform, please contact the Glimpact team.
About Glimpact
Glimpact, a sustainability venture with operations in New York, France and Belgium, is the first digital platform enabling the assessment of the overall environmental impact of products and organizations based on the new scientific doctrine of the EU. It provides access to the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology, developed by the European scientific community and adopted by the EU in 2021. Glimpact allows all stakeholders to not only measure the environmental footprint of their products or organizations but more importantly, to identify effective actions to reduce it.
The French government has selected Glimpact as the coordinator for one of the methods considered in the government experiment on environmental labeling of food and textile products. The company is a member of the technical committee assisting the Ministry of Ecological Transition in defining the modalities of environmental labeling mandated by the Climate and Resilience Law. Glimpact has been chosen by the European Commission, following a global tender, to implement legislation for the battery and photovoltaic solar panel sectors. This legislation will require these actors to display the environmental footprint of their products measured using the PEF methodology.
Glimpact already boasts solid expertise and experience with major players in the industry and distribution, including Lacoste, Decathlon, Mars, Gant, Carrefour, Puratos, Manutan, Spadel, Adeo, Lyreco, Pimkie, Chantelle, Celio, Aigle, Galler, and Bewital.
For more information, visit https://www.glimpact.com/.
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