Double Take

I misread this at first:

Microsoft Chooses ‘Doing Good’ Over ‘Looking Good’

Silly me, I thought they were using the greenwash funds to reduce emissions.

I feel... done.

3,000 words and a few more on Greenwashing

I was an engineer once.

Scott Adams was an engineer.

The ever excellent Dilbert is an engineer.

At the moment this one hit the mark, as I have found that some attempts at asking questions to establish enviROIs are getting met more and more by stupid 'you're just a Daily Mail reader' style comebacks from a way too powerful minority greeleet lobby empowered by media ownership and dogma over science. Just because a PR says it ticks a green box does not mean it is.

As it happens, I would like to know the answer to this one. Dilbert usually has a basis in fact, so is it possible Styrofoam may be 'better' than paper? All my instincts say not.

However, the overall message is, still on the money.

CATEGORY - GREENWASH

It has been referred to a lot before (check label below). I think It's time to start a category for when the next in line crops up:

Articles

Indy - Inside Story: Advertising environmentalism - Is it just greenwash?
BBC - What is the meaning of 'green'? - Not the most comfortable of reading
Director of Finance Online - Green credentials face growing scrutiny - One can only ask a plaintive... why???? Like we don't know. Oh, and guess which 'green winners' are spending a fortune to tell us how green they are? Nice to see my profession is still worth its salt.
FoodNavigator - Green efforts too often fall foul of scepticism
Observer - Just more advertising greenwash? - All the more valuable for the post casting a well-cranked eyebrow at the banner ads on the piece.
Indy - Is Dove's campaign for real beauty destroying the world's rainforests? The enemy of my enemy is my friend? Interestingly, the author finds the latest Oxfam ad effective, when not one person in my family understood what it was all about, much less felt moved to act. And that, subjective appreciation aside, is what it is all about.
Brand Republic - Green media - what is your company doing to prove its green credentials? - Don't get mad; get emailing. No entries to date... in answer to the question. Oh well... here I go (on the basis that almost anything that promotes unnecessary production and consumption can hardly be green):

Whenever you're ready chaps. No hurry.. take your time.
Mind you, I do wonder if 'not getting accused of..' is quite the same as '...not engaging in...' in the whole process vs. result, perception vs. reality, spin vs. substance scheme of things, and hence which might cost more and/or take longer to prepare for public consumption.
'Ladies and gents, please start your PR budgets...'
Or maybe, and here's a thought: do what you can practically. Be sincere. And don't ram some twisted vision of 'greenness' down ever more savvy consumers' throats in some half-cocked notion of enviro/CSR box-tick marketing.

Media Week - WELCOME TO THE GREEN SUPPLEMENT - MEDIA WEEK SPECIAL - it's got footprints and green and everything

Times - Why ‘greenwash’ won’t wash with consumers - Tell us something we don't know, and for a lot less of a fee.

'Could become..' LOL.
But I am sure another summit will sort it. They have worked so well so far.

Brand Republic - TOP TEN GREENWASH LINES

Guardian - Have you been greenwashed? - Let's see what one of the nation's top media blogs can come up with.

Just after I wrote this, I got an email: 'Go Green' with an Environmentally Friendly Franchise - The future awaits. I fancy Pet Butler.

Treehugger - MINI Pedi-Cab Stunt in China: Not So Green - No such thing as bad publicity? I'm sure it seemed a good idea. Nice to see some other cranking an eyebrow, but I'm not sure this was being touted as 'enviro'. I think Sir Paul might fancy one... call Lexus now!

Junkk.com - A new Guardian Greenwash site

Indy - NEW - Inconvenient truths: Don't believe the greenwash - I share not to be negative, but to encourage sensible interrogation. The Indy is no green slouch, and the writer is a staffer, but any rebuttals will be interesting. So far... none.

Information/Suppliers (to kick off)

ASA - Report via Greenbang

climatecounts.org US-based
coopamerica.org US-based
forestethics.org US-based

Greenwash guide - do bear in mind it is from a company (one of many, inc. here, if you fancy our input. Though we do also give oodles away free) that will charge you to 'help', but is worth checking out.

Guardian - Greenwash

Rising to the challenge

To good to miss, really...

The great green swindle

A genuine question, but how well vetted for 'wash' are the ads that appear on this page, if not the entire Guardian site?

Great to set a bar, and a high one, but it would be best to ensure that it doesn't get knocked off by the judges. And allow critics further opportunities to chip away at 'green' advocacy.

Not greenwash, per se, and not a great example as their claims are, one presumes, verifiable, but even as I glance at the top of the page I have to crank an eyebrow that "You don't have to leave my car at home to save fuel" by fitting a Michelin tyre. They might be bett...er indeed, but I'd be hard pressed to use less on a journey with them than not taking one at all.

Equally not overt greenwash, but glancing to the side bar on a piece about corporate attitudes to eco-marketing, I am not sure that selling a paper by carrying an ad that suggests one might win a skiing holiday to Banff sends out the most coherent, or best message.

Anyway, good luck to them with their mission. Along with others I am sure, I'll be watching. Maybe even contributing, too.