how to greenwash better (or how to be inauthentic and vague)
DESCRIPTION
Seth Bauer's presentation on green marketing and communications from Sustainable Brands 10 conferenceTRANSCRIPT
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How to GreenwashBetter
Seth Bauer
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How to Greenwash Better
Thoughts
For Companies
on the Verge of Doing the
Right Thing
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What is Greenwashing?
“The act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service”
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What is Reporting on Greenwashing?
Ideally, investigative reporting that protects consumers from deceptive marketers.
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What are the effects of such reporting?
1. protects consumers from deceptive marketers
2. Inadvertently scares companies away from making any environmental claims whatsoever.
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Who Greenwashes?
Research Report: TerraChoice Environmental Marketing identified 1,018 consumer products bearing 1,753 environmental claims.
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Results: “6 Sins of GreenwashingTM”
1. Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off 2. Sin of No Proof 3. Sin of Vagueness 4. Sin of Irrelevance 5. Sin of Fibbing 6. Sin of Lesser of Two Evils
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Take a Guess
Of the 1,018 products examined, how many did NOT make claims that the researchers felt were false or misleading?
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Products analyzed
1,018
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Green Claims
1,753
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No False or Misleading Statements
1
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We are all greenwashers
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Concerned, Not Up in Arms
• Cone study – 32% of Americans more interested
in the environment than 1 year ago – 91% have a more positive image of
a company if it’s environmentally friendly
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Concerned, Not Up in Arms
– 85% would switch to another company’s products if they heard negative reports
• But . . . – 47% purchased environmentally
friendly products/services
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Lesson 1 We can’t all be worms
Everything we make uses resources and creates waste
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Lesson 2 Hey, that thing moves
The green bar can be set at any height
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Lesson 3 No matter how far you go
There’s always someone to your left
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Takeaway 1 Greenwash Better
DON’T mislead consumers regarding the environmental practices of your company or the environmental benefits of your products
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Takeaway 2 Greenwash Better
DON’T shy away from doing the right thing even if you can’t go all the way
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Takeaway 3 Greenwash Better
DO recognize that for companies as for consumers, going green is a gradual process, not an all or nothing plunge.
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Takeaway 4 Greenwash Better
DON’T disparage the competition for moving in the right direction. DO hold them to high standards for science and honesty.
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Takeaway 5 Greenwash Better
DO help educate the consumer. Consumer’s Four Questions: 1. What CAN I buy? 2. What do I save? 3. What else can I do? 4. How important is this, really?