Frankly CSR

 TerraChoice Environmental Marketing published a report last month that suggests “greenwashing is pervasive” in the consumer products market.  The report, The “Six Sins of Greenwashing,” is an interesting read and appears to be based on a solid study.  In case you’re not familiar with the term “greenwashing,” TerraChoice defines it as the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a practice or service.  Maybe I’m jaded, but the results didn’t surprise me.  Especially given the standards TerraChoice used to evaluate the green claims.  

 I think Joel Makower’s  (two steps forward) characterization of us bordering on the “Wild West of Green” is very accurate. In the just the last year alone we have witnessed an absolute explosion of information and attention centered on the environment, global warming, carbon footprints, green products, etc.  The situation with Green is not that different than many other new concepts, technologies, etc. that experienced very rapid expansion.  We need to look no further than the Internet explosion of the late 1990s for a good example.  During the dot-com bubble there was a marketing free-for-all, where wildly exaggerated claims were common.  Practices have changed greatly in the past six years since the dot-com bust. 

We are still living on the frontier when it comes to Green, but I’m confident that through consumer and government pressure, the continued development of standards and certifying organizations and the normal maturation of companies in this area, we will see a steady shift toward more understandable, legitimate and trustworthy claims. 

Jeff