How Green Is that? 4 Tips to spot Green Washing In Advertising

Are these guys ‘green washing’ you?

Green washing, loosely defined, is a transparent attempt by a company to promote their ‘sustainable business practices’ so you buy more of their products. Examples of green washing are everywhere-from Clorox’s Green Works to Wal-Mart’s PR dept. publicizing its sustainability goals. With that said, our team here at ecoLife consulting, would like to give you a few pointers to spot green washing and make sure you don’t fall for any green marketing tricks.

Tip One- If a company suddenly starts splashing their products with the words, ‘green’, ‘sustainable’, ‘eco-friendly’, there’s a good chance that they might be green washing you.

Most huge companies understand that with increased public awareness about green issues comes a huge profit potential for them. They know that if they differentiate themselves even slightly you might choose their products over competitors. In addition, since few guidelines exist about the use of these ‘green’ marketing words,companies can use whatever words they want. Just because your t-shirt came with a label that says ‘sustainable’ doesn’t mean it wasn’t made by a 10 year old Balinese boy working 12 hrs a day for $.50/hour.

Tip Two- Look at a company’s entire product line. Are their products really green or is being ‘green’ just another revenue stream for them. Look at companies like Patagonia and Seventh Generation. You call tell by their websites, their products, their store employees (Patagonia) and their founders that sustainability and being green are not catch phrases for them-it’s the way they do business. They are the real deal. I read Yvon Chouinard’s book (the founder of Patagonia) Let My People Go Surfing and it’s clear that he runs his company like an environmentalist and NOT a suit.

So if you see a company advertising itself or its products as’ green’ or ‘sustainable’, look at their whole product line and decide for yourself.

Tip Three- Look for clear incongruencies with companies that label themselves green and the products they sell. For example, any bottled water company that labels itself green or sustainable, simply isn’t. For every 1 gallon of bottled water it takes roughly 7 gallons of water to produce. This doesn’t include the plastic used and the CO2 produced. That fact in and of itself excludes bottled water from being green. See also any gas/oil company pretending to be green. Don’t be fooled by their claims-if it seems odd that a beer company is suddenly touting its eco-friendliness, you’re probably right.

Tip Four- Google the company name and ‘environment’ and see what comes up. Try this with big name companies (Nike, Coke, Home Depot, etc); you’ll be surprised by what you find. This will bring up corporate initiatives, pending/closed lawsuits, awards, etc. This might be the simplest and most effective way to see what the company is all about. Disclosure- I am blatantly stealing this idea from something I read online somewhere. Wished I would have thought of it, because it is a classic.

So why is this important? Because our collective purchasing power speaks volumes and we should use it wisely. If we buy a huge conglomerate’s cleaning products just because they introduced a ‘green’ line, we’re directly taking money away from a company that has been sustainable and eco-friendly all along (like Seventh Generation).

Like We Do In San Diego You Too Can Support Your Local Green Business

As a green consulting firm we focus on utilizing local green products and services and sustainable green friendly manufacturers. This practice helps our local as worldwide green companies not only to stay in business, but flourish. By staying true companies with a green strategy the result is better products for us and better products for the planet. Also, wouldn’t you rather support a company that has been getting it right for the last 10 years than some flashy offshoot of some monster conglomerate?

Thanks…Jim

Btw-it’s probably important to say that while I mention Seventh Generation and Patagonia, I don’t receive any compensation from them. Of course, if Patagonia wants to send me a new surfboard and some clothes, they only have to ask.