Newsletter
| April, 2007 Green washing In this Earth Day month I'm presenting the first Pylon Page in an occasional series of topics on green marketing. You've probably heard the term Green Washing but may not know what it means–exactly. Presumably it was taken from the term from "whitewashing" which is the act of governments or corporations covering up corrupt activities with a clean image. The term greenwashing started to be used widely in the 1990s as corporations started seeing the benefit of promoting sustainability or social responsibility but not putting them into practice. Aware consumers saw through the claims of environmental or social responsible values and began to label these businesses "greenwashers." Marketing as usual Of course putting a positive spin on a product or service whether the product can live up to the claims or not, has been a long-time practice of marketing. The claim of 'whiter teeth and fresh breath' can be stretched without much consequence. But the same truth-stretching doesn't work for something more significant like corporate responsibility. The message has to be backed by an authentic voice and demonstrated action. "Green" is thought of as being socially responsible or benefiting the environment by reducing it's negative effect on society, air or water quality. And the actions of a company must back up those claims of being green or the message is not believed. More claims, more confusion The problem at this point is that as public awareness of "green-ness" increases so do the corporate claims of "being green." This in turn increases the confusion of what is or isn't green. Moreover, people who are not up on what is or isn't green have a hard time filtering out the noise. So, here are some guidelines you can use to filter out the inauthentic marketing practices of greenwashing: - Look out for vague claims that can't be substantiated like: "natural," "environmentally friendly" or "good for the planet." - Be wary of the claim that by purchasing the product you can save the earth. - Does the green product being promoted only represent a tiny fraction of the company's overall business? - Does the company or organization respond to specific environmental questions by phone, email or web site? - Are the claims verified by an independent and creditable third party? (There are more and more third parties that are verifying BUT even those groups need to be verified–more on that in the future.) Ultimately, it's important to be a critical thinker as a consumer in any case. Cutting through the noise of all marketing and advertising will make you a more responsible consumer which can be in-and-of-itself a green act. At Pylon Studios Twe understand that green marketing requires an understanding of the market and an authentic voice. Contact us. We work with green building companies and other green businesses who need to reach their audience with the right message. Better yet, have a look at our green business policy statement and company values page and then give us a call. This topic was put together with information from the new book "World Changing" edited by Alex Steffen and published by Abrams. It's an excellent reference book for environmental information. What happened to the March Pylon Page? When asked, it told us that it got lost on the way. We think it slipped off to Hawaii when we weren't looking. But you can read it here Back to the Newsletter page Sign up to get your copy of the Pylon Page |
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