Greenwashing - or the perception of consumers that they are being misled by a company regarding the environmental practices of the company or the environmental benefits of a product or service (according to Wikipedia) - is something that should be avoided at all costs.
When you're making your "green pitches," check your statements against this list to make sure you're not at risk of painting them with a brush full of green paint:
- Sin of the HIdden Trade-Off: Suggesting a product is "green" based on a single environmental attribute or an unreasonably narrow set of attributes without attention to other important, or perhaps more important, environmental issues.
- Sin of No Proof: Any environmental claim that cannot be substantiated by easily accessible supporting information, or by a reliable third-party certification.
- Sin of Vagueness: Every claim that is so poorly defined or broad that its real meaning is likely to be misunderstood by the intended consumer.
- Sin of Irrelevance: Committed by making an environmental claim that may be truthful but is unimportant and unhelpful for consumers seeking environmentally preferable products.
- Sin of Lesser of Two Evils: 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.
- Sin of Fibbing: Committed by making environmental claims that are simply false.
Get your copy of
The "Six Sins of Greenwashing" - A Study of Environmental Claims in North American Consumer Markets from
TerraChoice, an environmental marketing firm,
here>>
