Greenpeace, one of the world’s largest environmental organizations, has existed for more than 40 years on the Quaker principles of “bearing witness” and “non-violent, direct action.” Its roots lie in North America during the. Based on the aforementioned principles, and those of ecological and social equity, this international non-governmental organization eventually expanded across the globe.
Nearly 10 years ago, Greenpeace made it to mainland China. Nevertheless, Greenpeace found that its stalwart tactics of bearing witness and direct action were much more difficult to implement. Greenpeace needed to adapt to the nuances of Chinese society. This caused Greenpeace to take a slightly more indirect stance with its media strategy; rather than its traditional and rather direct approach of exposing scandals and staging elaborate media stunts.
This paper aims to analyze Greenpeace’s media strategy and the adaptations it required to achieve any sort of success in China. It will look at the foundation of Greenpeace’s thinking, its perceived methods for affecting positive change and the results of that work. This paper will show that Greenpeace places great value in its existence in China and is willing to learn more and adapt accordingly to China’s society in order to achieve its goals.