green•wash

(grēn'wŏsh', -wôsh')

Used to describe 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's this all about?

Every day, Americans are bombarded with advertising about environmentally friendly goods and services. But how many really are green, and how many are just pretending?

Featured Greenwash

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INTRODUCTION TO STOPGREENWASH.ORG

These days, green is the new black. Corporations are falling all over themselves to demonstrate that they are environmentally conscious. The average citizen is finding it more and more difficult to tell the difference between those companies genuinely dedicated to making a difference and those that are using a green curtain to conceal dark motives.

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ExxonMobil still funding climate sceptic groups

Thursday, July 2, 2009

A new Guardian arcticle today confirms what we wrote back in may: Exxon is still secretly funding global warming junk scientists.According to the Guardian report: Records show ExxonMobil gave hundreds of thousands of pounds to lobby groups that have published 'misleading and inaccurate information' about climate change. These include the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) in Dallas,...

BP Shuts down alternative energy headquarters

Monday, June 29, 2009

We've been skeptical of BP's green marketing claims all along, but reports out of London today confirm that BP's new motto should be "Back to Petroleum".The Guardian reports: BP has shut down its alternative energy headquarters in London, accepted the resignation of its clean energy boss and imposed budget cuts.......BP Alternative Energy was given its own headquarters in County...

The New York Times sells its integrity to ExxonMobil

Friday, June 19, 2009

Yesterday, Climate Progress called out the New York Times for running a front page ExxonMobil advertisement. As Climate Progress points out: "Needless to say — or, rather, in this case, needful to say — while today’s car has lower emissions of urban air pollutants thanks to government regulation, today’s car has, if anything, higher emissions of greenhouse gases, which threaten the...

Greenpeace Greenwash Criteria

Dirty Business - Touting an environmental program or product, while the corporation's product or core business is inherently polluting or unsustainable. For example, if a company brags about its boutique green R&D projects but the majority of spending and investment reinforces old, unsustainable, polluting practices.

Ad Bluster - Using targeted advertising and public relations campaigns to exaggerate an environmental achievement in order to divert attention away from environmental problems or if it spends more money advertising an environmental achievement than actually doing it. For example, if a company were to do a million dollar ad campaign about a clean up that cost less.

Political Spin - Advertising or speaking about corporate "green" commitments while lobbying against pending or current environmental laws and regulations. For example, if advertising or public statements are used to emphasize corporate environmental responsibility in the midst of legislative pressure or legal action.

It's the Law, Stupid! - Advertising or branding a product with environmental achievements that are already required or mandated by existing laws. For example, if an industry or company has been forced to change a product, clean up its pollution or protect an endangered species, then uses PR campaigns to make such action look proactive or voluntary.

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