Greenwashing - Not "Green" Just Because it Says So

Since time began, companies have fought each other for the right to have people identify certain colors with their brand (for example, Starbucks' recognizably round green logo). Now we see a change in all the products on the store shelves, the billboards, everywhere - they are turning "green".

Even if they really aren't green.

Soap is Soap is Soap

While I was walking down the supermarket while the other day, I couldn't help but notice how the color of so much consumer packaging has changed recently.I took a look at some laundry detergent produced by a brand that formerly associated itself with the color orange.

While the color orange was still present on its labeling, I saw much of this had been displaced by a light-colored green. Upon closer inspection, it was evident this brand was attempting to make a "green perception shift" not only in color but through some extremely vague statements to the effect that the product was somehow "helpful to the environment".

I shook my head at this: no matter how clean or green it claims to be, laundry detergent in any form is not good for the environment. (Want proof? Go dump some in your fish tank.)

I had long seen this laundry detergent on the shelf in its former packaging. I knew fully well that the powder inside that box was the same as it was years ago. Just some fancy soap.

Conclusion: This laundry soap brand is guilty of "greenwashing".

"Greenwashing" Defined

Through the commendable efforts of The Seven Sins Of Greenwashing, an entity dedicated to raising the awareness of the consumer, we are graciously provided with a clear definition of our Word for the Day:

"Green-wash (green'wash', -wôsh') - verb: the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service."

An Example of Greenwashing

Greenwashing is becoming rampant everywhere.

For those of you who may not have noticed it, I can provide you with a convenient example right here on the web. Click here to see an article about the blatant greenwashing and general misleading nature employed in an advertisement placed by a power company that uses filthy coal combustion to produce electricity.

Coal-fired electrical power pollutes the United States to the tune of more than 1 billion tons of ash and other wastes every year.

How can 1 billion tons of waste be "green"?

Greenwashing In Its Many Forms

Our star website of the day, The Seven Sins Of Greenwashing, provides some information on greenwashing in its many forms. Among these include:

• Sin of the Hidden Trade-off
• Sin of No Proof
• Sin of Vagueness
• Sin of Irrelevance (the sin which applies best to the advertisement I mentioned in my article)
• Sin of Lesser of Two Evils
• Sin of Fibbing
• Sin of "Worshiping False Labels"

To read about these "sins" and their full definitions, go to the The Seven Sins Of Greenwashing website.

What Can You Do?

Read this and be a better educated consumer. Know what is truly green.

Next step: Support real green products by buying them and recommending them to friends.

- John

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