Jim Brumm: Long-Term Thinking for a Short-Sighted World

(green’wash’) – verb: the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.

It’s always a sure sign that the public awareness of an issue is growing when you see the corporations start marketing to reflect that issue. But often the corporations aren’t really embracing the issue, they’re just trying to create the image that they are. The environmental, or “green” movement is one such area. Peoples’ awareness of the environment is growing, and more consumers are making choices based on good environmental practices. Often, this means changing what they buy, and thinking carefully about how they vote with their dollars. Consumers are asking for and searching out green products. Corporations, wanting to keep or lure customers, will often pretend they are environmentally friendly while continuing business as usual. When companies market themselves as greener than they actually are, it’s called greenwashing.

Lots of corporations do this. Chemical companies will show commercials depicting children running through fields of flowers and talk about how much they care for the Earth. Cadillac recently came out with a giant hybrid SUV which gets 21 miles per gallon. They ignore the lousy fuel economy and keep using the word “hybrid” as though it makes it all okay. In fact, some car companies have begun marketing their mileage in terms of “annual cost of fuel” instead of miles per gallon in an attempt to divert your attention away from the fact that they still get horrible mileage and haven’t done a thing to change that fact. Companies know that if they show images of flowers and leaves and happy children, and then throw the word “green” around liberally, they can sucker consumers into thinking they are actually green.

According to the 2009 Greenwashing Report, the most common products to employ greenwashing to make sales are kids’ toys and baby products, cosmetics, and cleaning products. Manufacturers of these and other products will use several techniques to lull consumers into believing that their products are green. Among these techniques are throwing out claims without offering proof, using the word “natural” as though it’s somehow magical to be natural—cobra venom, arsenic, and uranium are natural but you don’t want them in your food or makeup—and being deliberately vague about claims, hoping you won’t notice. Of 2,219 products claiming to be green in the U.S. and Canada, only two percent were found to actually be completely green. The others were using tricks to greenwash their products and make them appear greener than they actually are.

In the long run, if we want this to change, we must pay attention and take action. If you see a company trying to pass itself off as green while they go about raping the environment, write letters to let them know you’re not buying their product and you’re telling your friends, report them to the Better Business Bureau; call their bluff. With profit as the number-one motive for most corporations, they have little incentive to change until that profit is jeopardized. When they think they’re going to lose money, they’ll do what it takes to stop it, including cleaning up their act.

Next time you are watching television, or looking at ads, pay attention. Notice how prevalent the words “green,” or “natural,” or “environmentally safe,” are today. Corporations know our consciousness is rising about these issues, and they want to be perceived as green and Earth-friendly. When they tell us they’re green while they continue wasting resources and harming the planet, it’s like they’re pissing on our boot and telling us it’s raining. Only a loud, determined voice from consumers can make a difference. Beware of pigs selling pork.

For more information on greenwashing, go to http://sinsofgreenwashing.org/