As I see brands claiming to have won the “Green” award, I would like to share with you a few principles to keep in mind in order to protect your brand from taking home the “Greenwashing” trophy.
- Proof = Truth – All claims should have scientific proof.
- Don’t Hide and Emphasize – Don’t try to hide some facts and emphasize other information. Your audience will notice and the truth behind your message will come to light. Tell the whole story!
- If you are not different, it doesn’t make a difference – If you are claiming something every other company is doing you are not special.
- The Label Matter – Get a neutral and respectable third party organization to endorse your claim/stamp/label.
- Educate your Audience – If you use a term, i.e. Fair Trade, provide a definition on your label for that or any other term and or claim.
As this blog post is dedicated to my UCLA Green Marketing Strategy students, I would like to share and informative video I found on YouTube made by grenkblog.com. Please watch the video and let me know how you would avoid the “Greenwash” trophy.
The simplest way to avoid "greenwashing" is to design a product that is already sustainable, one that doesn't require half-truths or false labels. By implementing a Cradle to Cradle approach, for instance, you have already provided the proof of your product's "green" credentials. Communicating its strengths and uniqueness in the marketplace becomes core to the product itself. The real challenge in marketing a product such as this is justifying its cost and effectiveness if either are less than the alternative. Creating good design that competes with the alternative is the ultimate goal.
ReplyDeleteHow you would avoid the "Greenwash" label?
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, it could think in two different points of view; the consumer, and the business owner.
I think we, as a consumer, must educate ourselves by reading newspaper, or surfing internet. There are tons of knowledge out there that we could learn and study more in details about it (If we want to) such as the third party organization that really qualify to certify the green claims on any products. Hence, we could be aware of the Greenwash label.
As a business owner or marketer that wants to do the green label, I think we need to have morals -- tell the truth of all the information that the consumers need to know, even though it might affect the sales. I know that doing business, anyone can't escape the reality that we need to make money. Anyway, as I recall reading Guerrilla Marketing Book, there's one chapter about the advantages of doing the right thing in business. Not only the consumer will perceive you (who do the right thing) as a good business and continually buying products from you, others businesses or stakeholders prefer to do business with the ethical person as well.
Be Honest; Don't make claims you can't substantiate. Assume that someone will go to great lengths to verify your claims and broadcast it anywhere they can.
ReplyDeleteUse third party labels and certifications that are 'real' and widely recogonized as legitimate. Assume that someone will go to great lengths to verify them as well.
Have Integrity: 'Green' can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Educate your customer on what part of "green" you product or service is, and don't try to "trick" them into believeing your product is "Green". Tell them why.
Quality: Provide the best value and set an example by incorporating "green" into your everyday business practices. Tell your customers about it. "Walk the walk, Talk the talk".
The "six sins of greenwashing" from "Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green", Page 121-122:
1. Hidden trade offs that highlight leadership on one environmental issue while burying areas with less progress
2.Lack of proof for claims
3.Vagueness of catch-all terms like eco-friendly, all-natural, and so forth
4.Irrelevance (such as a claim that could apply to every product in the category - (e.g., being free of a banned substance)
5.False claims
6.Green Claims for a harmful product that shouldn't be offered in the first place (e.g., tobacco, toxic lawn chemicals)
As a consumer, we need to educate ourselves about green label: what the scientific supports are, how to clarify about green products such as organic, eco-friendly, and recycle, what fair trade is, and what the green signs on label genuinly mean. All of these are very important to determine which brand is greenwashing brand or which brand is not.
ReplyDeleteAs a producer, being hornest and showing the truth about a product and brand are absolutely important to build "green brand," also these will eventually create trustworthy relationship with customers which is vital for green marketing. Ambiguous scientific claims, businesses must avoid these type of claims because it can be negative feedback to products or brands. Moreover, it can destroy brands' image and identity. Coorporating with current eco-friendly and trustful organization such as fair trade, USDA is a good strategy to create a "green image" and build customers' confidence.
The brands that want to avoid brand washing must have to look inside their business, evaluate the impact that their products or services have in people and planet and deeply understand what changes must be make to be green. Then, they need to have courage and determination to make these changes happen. Only when the changes are made, it´s time to communicate it and start a good dialogue with their customers. When the green is only one more marketing strategy to take advantage of the green customers loyalty, it won´t work because they will recognize you as a green washer. It´s a must to have a green essence in order to be really socio and eco responsible.
ReplyDeleteTo avoid the “ Greenwash” label, the brands need to tell consumer the truth and the truth could be proof by scientific measurement. Moreover, they need to create and maintain genuine eco-friendly to communicate with their consumer as “ Green Marketing” in order to sustain creditability and trust. Otherwise, the brands will become fake-green which lack of credibility and no proof. Also, certified labels would be significant point to create more trust to the brands. Regarding from Guerilla Marketing, if you can create a unique and concept to generate buzz including create good relationship with customer mainly at this point with honest, you could achieve your succeed beautifully.
ReplyDeleteI have been noticed from the video that only little different words could make a different meaning in term of sustainability. Surprisingly (maybe just me), recyclable and recycled are two different meanings. Thus, as you are consumer, you have to open your eyes, open your mind and open you knowledge from all media, books and communication to expand your knowledge about green products that you are consuming for better understanding and being aware of “ Green washing”.
I think the best approach to avoid being labeled as a "green washer", is to assure corporate and product integrity, crediblity, quality, and opportunity.
ReplyDeleteCorporate integrity: this involves a company with institutionalization of sustainable practices and virtues. Many companies market the trend of being green without truely implementing sustainability into thier practice. They are merely 'bandwagoners' hopping on for the ride.
Corporate crediblity: falls under the third party verification method of marketing your brand. If you're truely green, other supporters of sustainable development will gladly condone your committment. It's very convincing to see the LEED, EPA, WaterSense, and USGBC logos next to your brand name.
Product Quality: this is a part of corporate integrity and credibility. Your brand's quality will reflect your crediblity. Look at Patagonia and Whole Foods. Thier credibility is proven through thier quality and thier customers know this through the company's integrity.
Opportunity in my opinion is a very important part of green marketing. I think that companies who open thier doors to their clients and share thier practices with them cannot be greenwashers. Allowing others to take part and share an experience with a company in making a difference sustainably shows the company's true identity, not just its image.
Honesty.
ReplyDeleteI think the best way to avoid "greenwashing" is to be honest and upfront about your brand's level of eco-friendliness. It may not be feasible or cost-effective to be completely "green" but brands should be honest about the challenges confronting their efforts in becoming more green.
Provide specific metrics.
Instead of claiming that a product is made from "organic" ingredients, why not specify the percentage. If it's 90% organic, then it's 90% organic and explain why it's only 90%. If the true percentage is too low, then either the product should be made greener or the product should not be claimed as green.
Third party certifications.
It's important to have a truly objective and credible third party verify a brand's sustainable practices.
Recyclable versus recycled.
At the very least, every product should encourage consumers to recycle. It's better to find ways to reward or create incentives that encourage consumers to recycle at a higher rate consistently. But the standard should be that a product is be made from as much recycled material as possible and make it easy for consumers to recycle instead of discarding the product.
The best way to avoid “Green Washing” we can do is developing the ability to consider products carefully and think twice before fall in to their marketing pitch hooks. By doing so, I can look for more information about the product if the green label is genuine or just a false claim. Moreover, reading the fine print is a good way to find out how green the product really is. Regarding to the video, it shows a lot of “green words” such as organic, eco-friendly, 100% recyclable or recycle. Those made me think of how tricky the words are and how companies do good things for the environment. As a consumer, we need to beware of those world and well educated before decide to trust the brand.
ReplyDeleteTo avoid being a “green washer” brand, I believe honest is the most important. The brand should claim that it’s green only when it is already sustainable. They should provide the exact amount of what they use such as 75 percent organic. I think to be honest to customers is very important to build up the loyalty and credibility.
Rachel Melary says...
ReplyDeleteAvoid being labeled a "green washer" by building trust with your customer base. The most important things to consider when marketing your product as green are transparency- why are you claiming your product is green?, education on what is "eco-friendly" and why it's important, and to have some sort of third party verify your claims. Putting your money where your mouth is and backing up your claims can built confidence and loyalty within your desired customer base. The video made me think of the paper cups we use at my office. My boss ordered them simply because they said they were 100% recyclable and that they were made using 10% post consumer content. While he believed he was doing something good for the environment he didn't realize that almost all paper cups these days are 100% recycleable. I think this is a perfect example of what the video was showing.
Soojean says:
ReplyDeleteTo avoid 'greenwashing', I think companies themselves should be a green company, not just sell green products and services. Consumers ask for green products and companies are moving forward to offer green products and services. But soon, that won't be enough.
Products and the processes used to manufacture them consume energy, use materials (non-renewable and renewable), and generate emissions. During the whole process, companies can continually face trade-offs between different environmental impacts. (For example, there is a automotive engineer trying to determine whether to use steel or a glass reinforced plastic for a car bumper. The steel is recyclable, but heavier and will result in more fuel use when the vehicle is driven. The glass-reinforced plastic is not recyclable but uses less fuel.)
Thus, companies should be knowledgeable in order to make better decision. They should educate themselves changes in the legislative and regulatory environment and share the information with customers, be better informed by acquainting with organizations that set standards and certification for green products and services, and train employees to design and implement green programs.
•Andrei sayd... The advantage of an architectural firm designing a green project is that a credible third party is certifying the “product” (design and construction). Nothing to hide, and the presentation of a green design and construction advantages has plenty of scientific proof. The Green Building Certification Institute is a credible, well established authority which provides the guidelines and the final certification, and here is where the label matters.
ReplyDelete• Same is applicable to construction materials with “green” certification, use of local suppliers, recycled materials, which are all accounted by GBCI and score points toward a LEED Certification.
• However an architect should avoid greenwashing his approach toward potential clients by minimizing the difference in cost per unit of construction, number of additional design hours needed to design and qualify a project for LEED Certification, only to catch up with Change Orders, after the Contract is signed. The ROI is also exaggerated by certain architects, another greenwash approach which will fail eventually.
• Honesty is a key factor and helps Architect’s reputation among potential clients.
• Architects should educate investors via publications, conventions, the local Chamber of Commerce, GBCI and AIA Seminars. They should present the real facts and stats regarding ROI, help with Client’s reputation and other advantages of investing in a Green building.
I read a recent article that quoted Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, saying “The brands of the future will each have a purpose and that priceless competitive advantage which comes from doing the right thing when no one is looking”.
ReplyDeleteTo avoid the green washing label means just that. Having a mission for the greater good and going about it in a way that does not self promote, but is transparent enough that allows people to discover for themselves the manner in which you do business. This means you have to operate with a social conscience towards the environment (eco-system, community) and give back in a meaningful way. Also important is being able to fully verify your business through trusted 3rd party organizations such as, in the case of food, groups like USDA Organics, Oregon Tilth, Marine Stewardship Council, etc. Employ social media as a way to open yourself up and allow the community to co create with your business.
In my opinion, I would avoid the green wash label by making the necessary changes in my company first in order to make it a real green company. In this way I would show to the consumers that it's not only a marketing strategy but a commitment to the people and environment in general. Also, I would try to disclosure and explain as much as possible the process of the making of my product. Be clear about the terminologies used and explain why, if it's the case, I'm using this material instead of that other and the impact that it would cause in our world. Basically, transparency is the best way to avoid being considered a green washer.
ReplyDeleteTo avoid a Green wash label, a company has to first be internally green. Making some changes in the everyday habits of the company is the first step. Educate all the employees about what is a green company and why they are making all these changes, so than they can act like a green company's employees. Another thing to do is to look for new ideas about the product, how can it be better, less damaging, and how the whole process can be cleaner and more eco friendly.
ReplyDeletePatricia Menjivar
ReplyDeleteHow to avoid GreenWashing as a company is to ensure the green mission is layered through out the companies essence (product line/services and company culture). The company must have back up to all the claims it makes to being Green. Overall, the company must be truthful as to how green it is. Consumers are increasingly more aware of greenwashing and what words are used in greenwashing. It is important for a company to tie itself with certifiable green labels and be 100% truthfull about how green it is.