One Sustainable Day At A Time: The Unethical Act of Green-Washing

The subject of green-washing has become an unethical topic in the world of business specifically in marketing. Source Watch defines green-washing as "the phenomena of socially and environmentally destructive corporations, attempting to preserve and expand their markets or power by posing as friends of the environment." Companies are using sustainability as it relates to the environment as a front to possible consumers who holds this issue as a high priority. This act is corrupt, deceptive, and weakens marketers’ ethical reputation. Greenpeace, an environmental association, created a website ( http://www.stopgreenwash.org/ ) called Stop Greenwash to fight against this harmful and unethical trend of green-washing. Although it is a business’s main objective to make a profit, it is completely unethical to do so by green-washing especially in a time when the world needs to be focused on sustainability and the environment more than ever.

Green-washing is an unethical way of conducting business and it is important to understand that there are ways a consumer can analyze a company to see if green-washing exists. The first one is called “Follow the money trail.” Many companies say they donate to various causes and call it social responsibility. A consumer needs to ask where the donations are going to specifically ensure they are not going to political parties or any other organization with an alternative motive. “Test for consistency over time” is another way to look for green-washing. This means make sure their social responsibility organizations are well funded and seem long lasting. It is easy for a company to start a sustainability or social responsibility initiative and then discontinue it after a small amount of time. Although the funding has stopped, they will be able to use that as a front that they are environmentally friendly and involved in social responsibility. These are two examples to hone in on green-washing but there are many more. The link, http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Greenwashing, will share the other ways to expose green-washing. In addition, it will also provide multiple case studies involving green washing from multiple countries.

Green-washing is unethical and it will take each one of us to do our part to sniff out the companies that partake in this act and not contribute to their profit margins as our world is in need for true sustainability and social responsibility.

For further reading, the link, http://sinsofgreenwashing.com/findings/the-seven-sins/ , discuses the 7 sins of green-washing.