‘The Seven Sins of Greenwashing’
source: http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/dailyloaf/2010/03/05/featured-green-site-the-seven-sins-of-...
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It seems more and more companies are jumping on the ‘green’ bandwagon these days, touting their products as “eco-friendly” and “all-natural. But did you know the majority of those companies are just making ‘greenwashed’ claims? What is green washing exactly, you ask? ‘The Seven Sins of Greenwashing‘ says: “Green∙wash (grēn’wŏsh’, -wôsh’) – verb: the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.”
The Seven Sins site was created by TerraChoice Environmental Marketing, a science-based marketing firm that performs market research on so-called ‘green’ products in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia in their bi-annual Greenwashing Report. It aims to educate consumers about the deadly sins of greenwashing and how to avoid products committing these sins.
In their research for the 2009 report, TerraChoice found that the greenwashing pandemic has spread: Over 98% of the ‘green’ products committed at least one of the Seven Sins and the total number of ‘green’ products found in stores had increased by an average of 79% since their study in 2007. In fact, the 2009 report even had to add a seventh sin to the list, “The Sin of Worshiping False Labels” because of marketers and manufacturers mimicking third-party environmental certifications on products to get people to buy them.
They also found that making over-the-top green claims were found mainly on kids products (baby products and toys), cosmetics, and cleaning products, TerraChoice states, “because these product categories were found to be the most susceptible to greenwashing and are of particular concern to consumers who want to ensure what they buy is safe for their families and are environmentally responsible.”
So what are the ‘Seven Sins of Greenwashing’ you need to avoid?
(Visit the original post to read more!)
The Seven Sins site was created by TerraChoice Environmental Marketing, a science-based marketing firm that performs market research on so-called ‘green’ products in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia in their bi-annual Greenwashing Report. It aims to educate consumers about the deadly sins of greenwashing and how to avoid products committing these sins.
In their research for the 2009 report, TerraChoice found that the greenwashing pandemic has spread: Over 98% of the ‘green’ products committed at least one of the Seven Sins and the total number of ‘green’ products found in stores had increased by an average of 79% since their study in 2007. In fact, the 2009 report even had to add a seventh sin to the list, “The Sin of Worshiping False Labels” because of marketers and manufacturers mimicking third-party environmental certifications on products to get people to buy them.
They also found that making over-the-top green claims were found mainly on kids products (baby products and toys), cosmetics, and cleaning products, TerraChoice states, “because these product categories were found to be the most susceptible to greenwashing and are of particular concern to consumers who want to ensure what they buy is safe for their families and are environmentally responsible.”
So what are the ‘Seven Sins of Greenwashing’ you need to avoid?
(Visit the original post to read more!)
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- tags:
- Shopping, Consumerism, Greenwashing, green products, 2 more
