Wokewashing

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The use of social justice in marketing campaigns. derogatory, uncountable

    "Which means modern brands have started using progressive values as a marketing ploy and are appropriating social activism as a form of advertising. It’s like the “greenwashing” of yore, but on a whole other level. We have, I’m afraid, entered a nauseating new age of woke-washing."

Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of wokewash form-of, gerund, participle, present

Example

More examples

"Which means modern brands have started using progressive values as a marketing ploy and are appropriating social activism as a form of advertising. It’s like the “greenwashing” of yore, but on a whole other level. We have, I’m afraid, entered a nauseating new age of woke-washing."

Etymology

From woke + -wash + -ing. Compare greenwashing.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.