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Glimpact understands the balancing act brands must navigate when considering advertising goals against environmental responsibility.
This is perhaps why the allegedly first platform for analyzing the overall systemic environmental impact of products and organizations’ latest study quantified the ecological footprint of leading brands’ digital advertisement campaigns—specifically those on TikTok.
The French firm’s report assessed video advertisements posted during last year’s holiday season (Nov. 11-Dec. 31) on the beloved social media platform, exploring ads by various brands—including H&M, Lululemon, and Ralph Lauren, among others—using the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) method to quantify the festive-URL-flyers and their corresponding environmental impact.
“We have created this new technology that focuses on the implementation of this method to modernize the concept of arbitral footprint of products and services because, the reality is, the crisis is not only climate. It’s systemic,” Christophe Girardier, co-founder and CEO of Glimpact, told SJ. “Which means, if you only focus on your carbon footprint, you forget two-thirds of your environmental impact.”
This standardized, life cycle assessment (LCA)-based approach was developed by the European Commission to measure and communicate the environmental impact of goods and services throughout their entire life cycle, according to EC. Building upon global standards (like ISO 14040/44), PEF focuses on reducing impact throughout the supply chain—beyond carbon emissions to consider 16 impact categories—and provides specific requirements for modeling materials flows, emissions and waste streams to provide a holistic understanding and, ultimately, management.
While this methodology was adopted by the European Union in 2021, PEF became the EU’s official universal measurement method last July, per the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) mandate and the EU Green Deal. For Glimpact, this comprehensive consideration “radically changes” the vision of environmental impact by revealing the “true stakes” of the ecological transition.
“We created the [Glimpact] technology to give a new vision of the systemic footprint and the overall state of the ecological transition,” Girardier said, noting he was lucky to be a part of early discussions on the scientific methods. “This was interesting for us—to reveal that the media campaign, especially digital campaign, have an enormous impact.”
A single TikTok advertisement is the equivalent of one car driving halfway around the world, according to the study.
Of the nine campaigns analyzed, H&M’s campaign amassed 8.4 million views and had the highest impact, clocking 265,000 PEF micro-points: the equivalent of driving 14,000 miles. Burberry’s advert, though half as impactful, was still equal to driving across the Atlantic—twice. In contrast, those with less audience reach, like Macy’s and Abercrombie, had the lowest footprints.
Figure 1. Global environmental impact for the entire ad campaign of 9 fashion brands
Glimpact
Going a step further, considering that the device contributes 60-90 percent to the total footprint, Glimpact found longer and heavier videos generated more damage than their size-optimized counterparts. With that in mind, Burberry’s campaign beat Lululemon’s (in terms of eco-friendliness) despite having four times the reach with quadrupled views. Why? The British brand’s file was lighter.
Figure 2. Global Environmental Performance per 1000 views with video weight for each campaign
Glimpact
To compare the impact of different campaigns more effectively, Glimpact assessed the environmental footprint per 1,000 views. This revealed that video length, file size and resolution were the “major drivers” of environmental impact—factors the sustainability venture said are well within brands’ control. Shorter, lighter videos significantly reduce the overall footprint: what the Lacoste collaborator said provides a clear opportunity for brands to make digital advertising more sustainable.
Figure 3. Environmental Performance per 1000 views vs Video Weight
Glimpact
To that end, TikTok ads are 10 percent worse for the environment; the same ad on the platform adds that extra eco-damage due to TikTok’s video-heavy interface. Posting the same video ad anywhere else could cut that carbon footprint down to the equivalent of driving from Los Angeles to Austin.
The motivating notion for Glimpact, then, isn’t if brands can cut their advertising footprints; they can, they just aren’t thinking about it when developing and strategizing marketing campaigns.
“For brands and advertisers, understanding the full environmental impact of digital campaigns is crucial to making informed decisions,” Girardier said. “This study highlights the often-overlooked footprint of video advertising and provides data-driven insights to help companies identify practical ways to reduce their impact without compromising reach.”
In the industry’s defense, it may be a misunderstood method when considering it’s a relatively nascent studied system for carbon accounting. This tracks for Glimpact, as the French government as well as the EC have tapped the Publicis partner to coordinate, define and implement various modalities and mandates.
“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,” Girardier said. “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.”
In Glimpact’s defense, the presentation of this information is not an opinion or criticism. It is but that—a presentation—to be considered (or not) when mapping sustainability goalposts.
“We never want to attack any brand,” Girardier clarified. “There’s no conflict—there’s no ‘you are good’ and ‘you are bad’ happening; it’s just to say, ‘here’s the information, so now you know.’ The question is what you will do with that information.”
