Weekly Blog Postings # 4 Greenwashing

Seven Deadly Sins of Greenwashing!

TerraChoice is an Environmental Marketing Consulting that practices and converts knowledge of markets, science and marketing into winning, client-centered solutions to help sustainability leaders deliver results. In 2007, they released a report stating that “Of the 2,219 North American products surveyed, over 98% committed at least one of the previously identified Seven Sins of Greenwashing." Research done by TerraChoice shows not all companies are engaging in greenwash. For those that are you should look for these seven sins. If one or more of the sins are found then chances greenwashing is covering up something.

Here is a summary of the seven sins:

1. Sin of the Hidden Trade-off, committed by suggesting a product is 'green' based on an unreasonably narrow set of attributes without attention to other important environmental issues. If something comes from nature or a natural thing doesn’t always mean that it is green. An example of that would be paper.

2. Sin of No Proof, committed by an environmental claim that cannot be substantiated by easily accessible supporting information or by a reliable third-party certification. Pretty much if there isn’t any proof then chances it could not be healthy.

3. Sin of Vagueness, committed by every claim that is so poorly defined or broad that its real meaning is likely to be misunderstood by the consumer. It may have the title of being green but doesn’t have any information to back it up with actual “green” ingredients.

4. Sin of Irrelevance, committed by making an environmental claim that may be truthful but is unimportant or unhelpful for consumers seeking environmentally preferable products.

5. Sin of Lesser of Two Evils, committed by 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. A fuel-efficient car is an example of this.

6. Sin of Fibbing is committed by making environmental claims that are simply false. The most common examples were products falsely claiming to be Energy Star certified or registered.

7. The Sin of False Labels, is committed by a product that, through either words or images, gives the impression of third-party endorsement where no such endorsement actually exists.

In your opinion, which do you think is the most common sin that companies use? Why do you think this?