Greenwashing erodes consumer trust

Nobody likes a liar, but sometimes you don't recognize one until it's too late. You might look to the eyes for honesty. People tend to look toward the right when exercising the creative, story-telling part of their brains, or they try to hide a shifty gaze by staring intensely at your face. Unfortunately, companies don't have tell-tale mannerisms and it takes more sleuthing to uncover deceitful business practices. Greenwashing isn't often as blatant as dumping oil into rivers and calling it progress. Instead, inaccurate labels and unsubstantiated claims about products and services lead consumers astray.

A 2009 survey conducted by Opinion Research Corporation found that more than two thirds of Americans expect companies to tell the truth when advertising their environmental practices. Truth, however, can be obscured. The word "natural" is one of the most common descriptions used on product labels. It gives a feeling of safety and earthy goodness. Vegetables are natural. Many items are perfectly natural. Like arsenic, cyanide and lead, all of which also happen to be lethal.

In an ideal world, businesses would honor their customers with complete disclosure about their products, but in the real world customers need to arm and protect themselves with information. A poor economy hasn't dampened people's desires to go green. According to the same Opinion Research Company survey, more than one third of Americans expect companies to offer environmentally responsible products and services. The trick is holding companies accountable for their offers.

Terrachoice Environmental Marketing, a Canadian agency in charge of helping consumers identify environmentally-friendly services and products, last year released Greenwashing Report 2009: The Seven Sins of Greenwashing. Out of 2,219 products surveyed in the report, the agency found that 98% committed at least one of its seven sins in advertising: false labels, hidden trade-off, no proof, vagueness, irrelevance, lesser of two evils and outright fibbing. The report found that products related to cosmetics, cleaning and children were the most heavily greenwashed. Collected data came from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. The agency declined, however, to reveal which stores it visited for the report and which products failed to meet expectations.

While Terrachoice's research methodology may be questionable, its website provides useful tips on how to avoid greenwashing as well as an interactive game to test your ability to recognize certified products versus hyped-up claims.

Consumers should look for third-party verification and official endorsements such as USDA organic. Beware meaningless jargon like "eco-safe" and other vague language. Also be aware of irrelevant claims like "CFC-free" when all products by law are required to be free of CFCs. When in doubt, ask questions and demand proof. Truly green businesses will be proud to show off their certifications.

Greenwashing leads to cynicism, wasted resources and lost revenue for legitimate green products. With more businesses boasting how they are the greenest around, it's easy to become suspicious of any product being marketed as eco-friendly and to assume that all companies are only looking out for themselves. Still it's important to seek out and reward those who do make the effort to become more environmentally friendly. No product is perfect or 100% safe. Rather, product flaws should be acknowledged and explained. Only then can people make informed decisions about their purchases and encourage companies to practice both conservation and transparency.