Greenwashing Is A Dirty Business
By Anne O'Loughlin
Filed Under Conscious Commerce |
The term “greenwash” is what you get when you combine the words “green” and “whitewash,” or when a company uses environmental trends to its benefit by lying to or misleading its customers. First coined in the mid-1980’s when hotels started claiming that by reusing towels you could save the environment, greenwashing has hit the mainstream. The practice has grown exponentially in popularity as more and more companies are jumping on the environmental bandwagon and bombarding consumers in every way possible with advertisements of their “green” practices. As a result, greenwashing has become a household phrase and has been making appearances all over the media, from local TV newscasts to the Today Show to the new segment on American Public Media’s Marketplace called The Greenwashing Brigade. It’s even caught the attention of the Federal Trade Commission which is attempting to protect challenged consumers by updating its 1995 environmental advertising guidelines.
So what exactly is greenwashing and how can you prevent yourself from having it happen to you? Trust me, you’re not alone if you get duped. The power of advertising and multi-million dollar marketing budgets make companies’ green claims easy to believe. Just the other day, I found myself purchasing a shower curtain liner from Bed, Bath, and Beyond that I didn’t even need just because the packaging claimed the liner was eco-friendly and biodegradable. Turns out not a word of that was true - the liner is made from the same old vinyl as all of the others. The company flat-out lied in order to get my purchase!
Indeed, it’s easy for companies to look good and make you feel good just by using terminology such as “100% natural” or “certified organic.” It’s true that the ingredients of certain products may be natural, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are healthy or eco-friendly when so many “natural” chemicals are toxic in nature. And “certified organic” doesn’t always mean that the product was actually certified and properly labeled by an organization such as the USDA. In fact, there is no certification standard for many of the products that claim to be certified.
Take Fiji water, for example, and their new Fiji Green campaign. While making promises to help save the rain forest, help the recycling effort, and reduce their carbon footprint, Fiji’s manufacturing process is an environmental debacle. This bottled water travels 5,820 miles per trip from Fiji to Seattle (the closest Fiji Water destination point in the US), uses 46 million gallons of fossil fuel and 1.3 billion gallons of water, and emits 216,000,000 lbs. of greenhouse gases in a single year. Not to mention that their PET plastic bottles leach Bisphenol A and have a recycle rate of only 12%. Regardless, Fiji enjoyed a 40% increase in sales last year from the Fiji Green campaign and expects to do so again in 2008.
Check out this ad for Shell petroleum that shows pretty little flowers spewing out of a factory rather than the true smog and pollutants. What exactly are they trying to say here-don’t put anything in the garbage ever again and magic flowers will spill from every smokestack?
Greenwashing is so prevalent these days that the environmental marketing company TerraChoice found in a recent study that 99% of the green labels they examined were false or misleading.
TerraChoice is best known for it’s report on the “Six Sins of Greenwashing” which helps consumers wade through the advertising and discover which green campaigns are actually legit. Check out, President of TerraChoice, Scott McDougall in an interview with Canadian television newscast CTV…
Other than keeping these “six sins” in mind, what can a responsible consumer do in order to fend off greenwashing? The best advice is to read the label, do your research, fact check any claim that seems too good to be true, and contact the company with questions and comments. If there is enough consumer pressure, companies will make their marketing more truthful and hopefully we can see greenwashing become a thing of the past.
Do you want to join the fight against greenwashing? Take action!
- Learn how to fight greenwashing from the experts at Greenpeace
- Rate your favorite (and not-so-favorite) greenwashing examples at The Greenwashing Index
- Check out the regular post Greenwash of the Week on the official blog of the Rainforest Action Network
- Share your stories of companies who greenwash, and those that absolutely don’t, in the Comments section of this post
Anne O’Loughlin is the President and Founder of Autonomie Project, a new Fair Trade fashion and footwear company. She and her company are strong advocates for Fair Trade principles, anti-sweatshop activism, and sustainable, eco-friendly lifestyles.
Posted on June 16, 2008 |
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6 Responses to “Greenwashing Is A Dirty Business”
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[...] to be successful with the LOHAS community was also handing them the tools to successfully greenwash their product lines. He leaned back and admitted that a scenario like that is always a possibility, [...]
I really think this is a timely article as companies clamor for all the “vote with your dollar” dollars. It’s great to learn about companies that you can trust and stick with them. Whether it’s the farmers at your local farmer’s market who don’t use chemicals on their crops or the yogurt manufacturer who treats their cows right or the hardware store who always sources wood from responsibly managed forests. Ask questions and get to know the companies you buy from the most. Just think about it-how much money do you give your toothpaste company over a lifetime, or the dairy you get your milk from?
[...] power consumption in each unit, which can have a huge impact overall. (Look out for some of the greenwashing by these companies, they’re a long way from total [...]
[...] power consumption in each unit, which can have a huge impact overall. (Look out for some of the greenwashing by these companies, they’re a long way from total [...]
[...] skeptics may feel that Wal-Mart is capitalizing on current consumer trends or is doing its share of greenwashing, the initiative is receiving positive accolades from the media, sustainability watchdogs, and even [...]
Hello Ms O’Loughlin:
I believe the following statement is factually incorrect.
“…Not to mention that their PET plastic bottles leach Bisphenol A and have a recycle rate of only 12%.”
PET, which is used in light-weight food packaging, in particular single use water and soft drink bottles, does not contain BPA and BPA is not used in PET’s manufacture.
From data collected in 2005, the PET recycling rate in the U.S. was 23%, up from 21% in 2004.
I’m Program Manager with PET Resin Association (PETRA).
Please contact PETRA at any time if you have questions regarding PET and PET resin and we can work together to supply you with the most recent and accurate data.
Sincerely,
Tim Bennett
PETRA - PET Resin Association
355 Lexington Avenue, Suite 1500
New York, NY 10017-6603
212 297 2108
212 370 9047 (fax)
tbennett@kellencompany.com