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The Greenwashing of North America

Study Finds Product Environmental Claims Often Mislead Consumers

Jan 8, 2008

EcoLogo, TerraChoice Environmental Marketing

Manufacturers of consumer products often claim misleading environment benefits to better sale their wares to environmentally concerned customers

Consumers in North American are increasingly aware of effect their purchases have on the environment. Manufacturers are similarly aware of this trend and are often marketing their products as environmentally friendly or green under misleading circumstances. TerraChoice Environmental Marketing, an environmental marketing firm managing the multi-attribute EcoLogo certification process, conducted a survey of six big box retail stores for products that made environmental claims in early 2007. The survey teams identified 1,753 environmental claims made by a total of 1,018 different products. All but one of the products made false or misleading claims about their environmental friendliness or practices. TerraChoice analyzed the environmental claims and broke the results down into what they term the Six Sins of Greenwashing.

The Definition of Greenwashing - TerraChoice Environmental Marketing defines the term as a verb, "The act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service."

The Six Sins of Greenwashing - TerraChoice identified six patterns seen in misleading and false environmental claims experienced by consumers. False marketing claims pose several problems in addition to just being misled. Products using illegitimate claims reduce the financial incentive to make innovative green products and raise doubt in customers about the value of all environmental claims for all consumer products. The six sins are described as:

Hidden Trade-Offs - A product is marketed on a single environmental attribute, yet does not mention other possibly more important environmental issues. An example is promoting the energy efficiency of office equipment without speaking to their use of hazardous chemicals. The Sin of Hidden Trade-off is cited as the most common marketing constituting 57% of the products surveyed
No Proof - A product is marketed with an environmental claim that is difficult to prove through easily obtainable sources. One example given is the energy efficiency of light bulbs. The manufacturer can claim any level of efficiency if there isn't an independent certification by a neutral third party
Vagueness - Manufacturers can make a marketing claim that is so broadly defined as to render it useless to the consumer. Examples can include claiming a product is chemical free or all natural. The terms sound good, but are essentially worthless
Irrelevance - A product can be marketed with an environmental claim that is truthful, but ultimately unimportant to making an informed product choice. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) were banned from products thirty years ago, yet many products bear labels proclaiming that they are CFC-free. Truthful and useless information
Lesser of Two Evils - A manufacturer can make an environmental claim that is true in one case that distracts from a greater environment impact in the product category. Examples cited include organic cigarettes and green insecticides
Fibbing - Some product claims are just false. Most fibs involved claims of independent certification. This was seen in a caulking compound claiming to be Energy Star registered and wasn't or a plastic dish soap container claiming to made of 100% recycled paper

TerraChoice President Scott sums this effort in a recent press release by saying, “Consumers want to live a more environmentally sustainable lifestyle. TerraChoice’s goal with the Six Sins of Greenwashing is to help consumers become more knowledgeable shoppers so that they can buy green with confidence.” A copy of this study of unfortunate environmental claims can be downloaded from their website and makes for interesting reading. They offer practical information in their report on eco-labeling, environmental certification programs, green marketing, and making good purchasing decisions.

The copyright of the article The Greenwashing of North America in Environmentalism is owned by Alan Sorum. Permission to republish The Greenwashing of North America in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.