Greenpeace and Greenwashing Consulting

By now, you’re probably a little depressed by the idea of greenwashing. After all, consuming green is a step in the right direction when it comes to saving the planet. And, if you’re at all like me, the more you hear about corruption and oppression, the more you want to do something to change it. Therefore, I offer you two organizations who are taking very different approaches to fighting greenwashing. Here’s to environmental honesty!

Greenpeace (http://stopgreenwash.org/)

If you’ve never heard of Greenpeace, you’ve probably spent some portion of your life under a rock. Or, you’ve lived in a place that doesn’t have consistent access to large-scale media. In case you haven’t heard of it, Greenpeace is a non-governmental organization that deals with all things related to the environment. Specifically, their goal is to “ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its diversity (http://tinyurl.com/465yrr6).” They do so by fighting environmental problems, such as global warming and commercial whaling, using direction action, lobbying and research (http://tinyurl.com/48ldywt).

Among its many efforts to save the planet, Greenpeace has established a campaign to fight greenwashing. Their website is entitled stopgreenwash.org and it contains a wealth of information regarding greenwashing, Greenpeace’s criteria for investigation, and numerous articles on greenwashing offenders. According to the site, the goals of this initiative are to confront greenwashing campaigns, engage in debate with corporations, and provide the information consumers and lawmakers need to hold corporations accountable for their green marketing actions. Greenpeace primarily accomplishes these points by investigating cases of greenwashing using four criteria:

Dirty Business: Promoting an environmentally-friendly product or program while the business itself is generally unsustainable.

Ad Bluster: Using targeted advertising or campaigns to exaggerate an environmental achievement in order to divert attention away from environmental problems, or spending more money on advertising an environmental achievement than on the achievement itself.

Political Spin: Speaking about “green” commitments while lobbying against current or pending environmental regulations.

It’s the Law, Stupid!: Advertising a product with environmental achievements that are already required by law. 

With these criteria, Greenpeace focuses its investigations in six areas: oil, autos, electricity, coal, nuclear, and forests. Through a blog post format, they expose bits of greenwashing from a number of corporations, including Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, GM, Southern Company, and Kleenex. Are their campaigns successful? Yes and no. As they say on the site, it's been harder to change the US than other countries in the world. But, they do mention a couple of success stories from across the world. For instance, in the UK, the advertising authority asked the Malaysian Palm Oil Council to stop running misleading ads. The ads claimed that palm oil was environmentally friendly, while the industry is actually responsible for heavy CO2 emissions. 

Greenwashers Consulting (http://www.greenwashersconsulting.com/index.html)

When I first came across this site, I was incredulous. The company claims to deliver a "premium package of green image solutions," leaving the infrastructure of a company alone while streamlining a green appearance. I thought I had come across some pretty obvious greenwashing, but this seemed to be pushing the envelope too far. What if consumers found out about it? How would they ever trust green marketing again? But, after my initial reaction, I took a second look at the site, nursing a healthy amount of doubt. This seemed almost too stupid to be real. The remainder of their tabs had advertising points, but little material to work from. The testimonials section was empty. What if this site was merely a clever bit of satire? I searched the web a bit more for information about the site and came across an article written by Osha Gray Davidson for the Phoenix Sun (http://thephoenixsun.com/archives/1299). Like me, Davidson was shocked by Greenwashers Consulting's material and launched into some investigative journalism. Posing as a polluter in need of their services, Davidson writes a sarcasm-laden letter to bait the firm into responding. Soon after, she receives a confirmation email from the CEO of Greenwashers Consulting, Arthur Denton. Does the name sound familiar to you? It might. It's the name of the sadomasochist character played by Bill Murray in Little Shop of Horrors. Davidson confirms that she has stumbled across a piece of satire. Unlike many of the sites I've shown you, which directly attack greenwashers through investigations and expose pieces, Greenwashers Consulting lets the idea of greenwashing destroy itself. As I'm typing this, I'm chuckling at the fact that one of my tabs, which is opened to the "Clients" page of Greenwashers, reads "Greenwashed Clients." Will it have the same effect on greenwashing as Greenpeace? Maybe not. But I think it's important to approach this issue from a number of angles. I also encourage you to visit the site, if only to unwash and wash the picture. Scary icky factory becomes flowery oasis at the click of your mouse!