Green… the new Black?

Posted on 28. Oct, 2009 by admin in Headlines and Opinions

We’ve gone green crazy… everyone and everything is green or claiming to be green … from companies to brands to products and services… green’s the way to go. More than a colour, it’s morphed into a headspace, movement, trend and a global imperative. Being green is no longer associated with tree huggers, hippies, and green warriors – it’s mainstreamed and every Tom, Dick and Mary has embraced the term green.

Cleaning products clothes, food, cars, furniture – every aspect of society has been influenced by the environmental lobby. With earth’s resources being rapidly depleted, the global movement for sustainable development has created a number of imperatives related to being “green”.

As you can imagine, there is a great deal at stake. Cutting one’s carbon footprint can be a costly exercise and for many companies, its means cutting profits but most companies also realise that to keep a competitive edge, they have to be green … hence the proliferation of green products, green policy, green ideology etc etc etc

It all sounds like its working out really well – right? Wrong!

Key to the notion of going green is greenwashing … derived from the phrase “white washing” …which means to gloss over the truth, tomislead consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.

Ah the fibs companies tell – from outright lying to omission of facts, to artful rearrangement of data to mislead, misrepresent and pull the wool over the eyes of consumers!



It’s open, ongoing warfare…on the left are the environmentalists and to the right are governments and big business. The war is fought through the media via elaborate often spectacular campaigns. Each side employs a plethora of marketing devices bombarding the public with messages related to their cause. No expense is spared with the best creative minds attempting to sway public perceptions, steal our hearts and win our minds.

The stakes are sky high….apart from the planet’s health, the green economy is huge as consumers demand more green products and environmentally responsible corporate citizens. And Global Business has responded speedily. Between 2007 and 2009, the in-store availability of so-called ‘green’ products increased between 40% and 176%.

Hurrah, we are going to save the planet!

Once again – wrong.



The same study found that at least 98% of products surveyed were committing at least one Sin of Greenwashing compiled by TerraChoice Environmental Marketing.

98%… that’s frightening. Will the doomsday scenario prevail? Ultimately only we can decide – by embracing our responsibility, making green choices, and “outing” those that “green wash”!

To download a copy of the 2009 Seven Sins of Greenwashing Report, or to view some handy tools, go to: www.sinsofgreenwashing.org.