Greenwashing: It's So Easy to Say You're Green (Part 1)
Greenwashing - the little green lie. Apparently, the lies aren’t so little and they’re incredibly widespread. Or, maybe we’re all just confused about what it means to be green or sustainable.
A recent study by the environmental marketing firm TerraChoice found that 99% of over 1,000 randomly surveyed consumer products were guilty of greenwashing – a term the firm defines to mean “the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.” In other words: false advertising.
TerraChoice identified six sins of greenwashing, including hidden tradeoffs, no proof, vagueness, irrelevance, fibbing and “lesser of two evils.” More detailed information about these six sins can be found on their website.
The problem appears so prevalent that the FTC is getting involved. Last month it opened hearings on green advertising claims. Although the Commission has environmental marketing guidelines, they haven’t been updated since 1998.
See www.ftc.gov/bcp/grnrule/guides980427.htm.
On the other hand, Andy Savitz, in his “The Triple Bottom Line Blog”, suggests that maybe the problem isn’t as pervasive as it appears. Andy notes that many of the sins are of the hidden tradeoff type. For example, the car manufacturer that promotes its greenness with its hybrid, but produces twice as many gas guzzling SUVs, it doesn’t make the hybrid any less of a green option.
Nonetheless, consumers looking to buy green need some means of determining which green products are legitimately sustainable vs. marketing hype. More on that in my next post.
