Greenwashing vs. Green Marketing

It’s difficult these days to differentiate between companies genuinely dedicated to making a difference and those washing our perceptions of “green.”

According to sourcewatch.org, the term “greenwashing” is defined as the unjustified appropriation of environmental virtue by a professional entity. This may include a company, an industry, a government, a politician or even a non-government organization creating a pro-environmental image to sell a product, policy or reputation to the public.

These days, corporations are doing whatever it takes to demonstrate that they are environmentally conscious. All over mainstream media we’ve seen businesses claim that their products are sustainable to lure customers to buy what they are selling. As maybe we have witnessed, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

For the small percentage of savvy consumers out there, greenwashing is recognizable and often times very unappealing. It is absolutely a slippery slope to the loss of a company’s credibility and trustworthiness when its greenwashing is finally exposed.

However, for a large majority of consumers, the lines between greenwashing and green marketing are still significantly blurred. These consumers end up investing in misrepresented things they may not even realize they have been cheated by.

Greenwashing has some validity, but the advantages still do not outweigh the potential dangers. For greenwash-ers, the assumption is that potential consumers will see the benefits and be more likely to pay for the “green” product or service over the less-green alternative.

However, because the public has become so familiar with sustainability throughout the past decade, the public is becoming increasingly more skeptical of these claims.  The reality is that companies can seriously damage their reputation if their false green claim ends up being exposed.

The easiest way to scrutinize corporations for honest green marketing is to investigate the company’s website.  Usually, websites will provide consumers with enough evidence to be able to make educated decisions about what the company really represents. Perhaps crosscheck the mission statement against the company’s output, expenditures and green tactics to identify the integrity of its brand.

Over the past five months, I have had the privilege and rare opportunity to work with a business I sincerely believe is a green conscious, sustainable business – Recycle Your Mat (RYM) – a client of Allen Hall Public Relations.

From the inside out, RYM is dedicated to promoting sustainability. It doesn’t take long to peruse through the website, social media connections, customer responses and media articles to know RYM’s true intentions. How refreshing it is that the goal and motivation for the business is honest about what its title states – recycling for a greater good.

Let this be inspiration to represent sustainable marketing techniques with passion and integrity.  With all those eco-friendly claims out there, be savvy and always be weary of the “greenwash.”