Greenwashing

Strategies and Responses

What is greenwashing?
Green disinformation or ecological masquerade
is an environmental claim that is

unfounded (a lie) or
irrelevant (a distraction)
How greenwashing started
Demand has grown for green or organic
products as a result of changing
consumer buying behaviour
Some very interesting numbers...
Industry analysts estimate that U.S. organic food
sales were $28 billion in 2012, up 11 percent from
2011.
Nonfood agricultural productse.g., laundry
detergent with organic coconut oil, aloe vera, and
other ingredientsaccounted for another $2.2 billion
in organic sales in 2011
The green trend in advertising

Source: Terrachoice
 General Motors & Ford
General Motors has falsely
promoted its cars as
environmentally friendly

Ford launched the new Escape

Hybrid
What they fail to tell the public is
they only produce 20,000 of
these cars a year while
continuing to produce almost
80,000 F-series trucks per
month!
 Risks of greenwashing
If left unchecked, greenwashing creates significant risks:

Well-intentioned consumers will be misled into purchases

that do not deliver on their environmental promise

Competitive pressure from untrue environmental claims

will take market share away from products that offer
legitimate benefits
Greenwashing is booming
Industries where greenwashing can often be
found are
Water
Energy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfZAW8Bb-lk

Since 2006, greenwashing has very much

increased in the industries of automobiles and
tourism.
What happened in 2006?
1. Al Gore film, An Inconvenient Truth
Competitive Enterprise
Institute
Free markets and Limited Government

An
organization supported by Ford, GM
and the US Coal Industry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sGKvD
NdJNA
What else happened in
2006?
2.
Stern Review: The Economics
of Climate Change
Written by Sir Nicholas Stern and published by
the London School of Economics

pointed to the potential impacts of climate

change on water resources, food
production, health, and the environment
 The Stern Review
without action, costs of climate change will be
equivalent to losing at least 5% of (GDP) each
year, now and forever.

Other risks and impacts could increase this to

20% of GDP or more, also indefinitely.
1 company spent $200
million on a new logo
The Prevalence of
Greenwashing

Source: TerraChoice

2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www.wiley.com/college/belz

 Patagonia Founder & CEO
For a while, [Chouinard] was proud of the work
his sustainability teams did with companies like
Walmart. But, he says, they took the low-
hanging fruit, recycling plastic, converting their
fleet over to natural gas. Things like that. They
did everything that ends up making em more
money. But when it comes down to doing the
hard things, anything with a long-term payoff,
they backed out.
Contd
Its not just Walmart. All of these companies,
whether its Dannon or Unilever, theyre all
greenwashing. They start out making a big
deal out of something and they back down.
Its like Nike started out doing a little bit of
organic cotton, about 1 percent. Now I dont
know if they do any at all. The fashion industry,
same thing.
Greenwashings Seven Sins
1. Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off
2. Sin of No Proof
3. Sin of Vagueness
4. Sin of Irrelevance
5. Sin of Lesser of Two Evils
6. Sin of Lying
7. Sin of Worshipping False Labels
 1. Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off
suggesting a product is green based on an
unreasonably narrow set of attributes without attention to
other important environmental issues.

Example: Paper isnt necessarily preferable from an

environmental viewpoint just because it comes from
sustainably managed forests.

Other considerations can be as significant or important

(or even more so):
energy, GHG emissions or water and air pollution
 2. Sin of No Proof
An environmental claim that cannot be
substantiated by easily accessible supporting
information or by a reliable third-party certification.

Common examples are facial or toilet tissue

products that claim various percentages of post-
consumer recycled content without providing any
evidence. Also the Vegetal Bottle
 3. Sin of Vagueness
Any claim that is so poorly defined or broad that its
real meaning is likely to be misunderstood by the
consumer.

All-naturalis an example. Arsenic, uranium,

mercury, and formaldehyde are all naturally
occurring, and poisonous.All naturalisnt
necessarilygreenor healthy.
 4. Sin of Irrelevance
making an environmental claim that may be truthful
but is unimportant or unhelpful for consumers seeking
environmentally preferable products.

CFC-freeis a common example, since it is a

frequent claim despite the fact that CFCs are banned
by law; It is no more relevant than saying fat-free
water!
 5. Sin of Lesser of Two Evils
claims that may be true within the product
category, but that risk distracting the consumer
from the greater environmental impacts of the
category as a whole.

Examples:
organic cigarettes
fuel-efficient sports-utility vehicles
 6. Sin of Lying
is committed by making environmental
claims that are simply false (this does not
happen often).

most common examples:

products falsely claiming to be Energy Star
certified or registered.
 7. Sin of Worshipping False
Labels
a product that, through either words or
images, gives the impression of third-party
endorsement where no such endorsement
actually exists

- fake labels, in other words.

 Why this seventh sin?
Eco-labeling is on the rise. Legitimate
eco-labeling is nearly twice as common in
the US and Canada as before, increasing
from 13.7% to 23.4% on allgreen
products

(terrachoice 2010)
Proportionally, Claim Accuracy
is Improving

Source: TerraChoice

2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www.wiley.com/college/belz

Some trustworthy green labels

Source:
Terrachoice
 Advertising agencies react
As advertising agencies are at the origin of
greenwashing, they are both the problem and the
solution

Of 10 of the big players contacted in London (by futerra,

in 2008)
only 4 responded to questions
only one intends to work with their clients to avoid
greenwashing in the promotion of brands, products and
services
http://ecopreneurist.com/2011/10/26/top-10-green-
marketing-campaigns/
Government responses
Norway: in the wake of apseudo-greenadvertising
campaign by carmakers,
the government ombudsman published clear guidelines on
quantification and comparison of green claims
risk of fines if carmakers fail to respect these

France: the ARPP has moral (not legal) authority

International: the standards group ISO 14020 covers

environmental labels and claims
Avoiding the Seven Sins...
Talking about greenwashing can encourage
sales of green products/services
Helping distributors so that
authentic products really shine

competitive pressures that encourage

greenwashing are reduced

customers do not become cynical and
sceptical
 Fighting greenwashing is
about education
Talking about the 7 sins of greenwashing does
NOT suggest that only perfectly green products
should be marketed as environmentally preferable

There is no such thing as a perfectly green product

Environmentally preferable products are greener

not green
 Avoiding greenwashing
by basing corporate communication on scientific proof,
honesty and transparency:

Make advertising messages clear

Reduce the products ecological footprint over its entire life

cycle

Provide proof coming from trusted scientific third parties

Avoid vague words (natural)

Only use certified eco-labels

Some links for greenwashing
Futerra, the sustainability communications agency

http://www.futerra.co.uk
/

http://www.accountability.org/about-us/publications/what-assures-3.html

http://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2013-october/growth-patterns-in-the-us-organic-
industry.aspx#.VQyqVxDF_-I

Added Value Agency/Branding for Good

http://added-value.com/branding-for-good-issue-40/