Greenwashing

by Andrea Millar — April 26, 2008

Yesterday, we reported on greening up your wash, but you may also know about the entirely different concept of greenwashing. In an age of information onslaught, consumers need to be more aware than ever of business practices that are truly green...and those that are just "greenwashing." Common examples include images of trees or running streams in advertising; in this country, there are no laws forbidding the implication of being ecologically friendly, and many companies choose to walk the fine line between making false or misleading claims and leading the consumer to a few leaps in logic by using say, a picture of an endangered animal to imply green practices.

The term was coined in 1990 by an article in Mother Jones Magazine and has since been used to target companies that only mean "green" to the extent that it creates dollar signs. In one high-profile case, Mobil Chemical added starch to their Hefty bags and placed them on the shelves with 'biodegradable' advertising all over the packaging. And they were, if laid out and left in the sun for a certain period of time. Of course, most landfills don't function that way. Ultimately, thanks to greenwash whistle blowers, they were sued by six states and the FTC and had to remove the label. The Mobil lawsuit was in 1993. Currently, the FTC is examining its regulations with an eye to stricter standards for advertisers.

If you suspect a company is green in name only, you can report it to GreenWashingIndex.com, a consumer-run group that collects suspect ads and rates them on a scale of 1 to 5 for crimes against green integrity.