Everyday we are bombarded by terms like “green”, “all natural”, “environmentally friendly” and so on, but it doesn’t stop there. More and more products are being sold with logos inspired by nature to give consumers the idea that the product is better for the environment, but how can we be sure the product actually is better? Sometimes it is very difficult to determine how geniune a company is being because greenwashing is becoming a prevalent practice.
Greenwashing is a hybrid word of “green” and “white-washing”, and means that the true environmental impact of a product is covered up by using misleading labels. This means that a company’s claims might not reflect the real attributes of a product. Green marketing company Terrachoice brings the truth to consumers by releasing an biennial Greenwashing Report. The reports findings are based on if a product commits any of the “seven sins of greenwashing”. The seven sins of greenwashing, according to Terrachoice are:
1. Hidden Trade Off – one environmentally friendly aspect of a product is highlighted when other environmentally harmful characteristics of the same product are ignored.
2. No Proof – the product makes claims which are not easily verifiable.
3. Vagueness.
4. False Labels – words or images that lead consumers to assume a product has certifications from a third party when it does not.
5. Irrelevance – making a claim that is true, but unneeded by consumers. One example of this given by Terrachoice is that if a product claims it is “CFC-free” that is true, but CFCs are banned by law, so the claim is unnecessary.
6. Lesser of Two Evils – claims that distract from larger more harmful issues.
7. Fibbing – claims that are straight-up false!
The most recent of Terrachoice’s greenwashing reports was released in 2009, and found that 98% of products reviewed committed at least one sin of greenwashing. So while we should be embracing products that are improving the way we use our earth’s resources, we need to be aware that not all products are actually making the improvements they claim to be. Consumers can further educate themselves by reading the Terrachoice reports at http://sinsofgreenwashing.org/