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Magazin  Greenwashing Index
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Greenwashing Index |
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Greenwashing Index
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Promoted by Enviromedia Social Marketing
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PaperMate Biodegradable Pen
This ad makes me mad because it is misleading. Only part of the pen is biodegradable, for one thing. Secondly, the pen will never be able to degrade since our waste stream ends up in landfills which simply do not promote proper decomposition. I hate claims of being biodegradable (which usually should say compostable) that manipulate peoples' lack of knowledge about product lifecycle in terms of how our waste stream actually works.
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GE Ecoimagination- Jar
General Electric has come out with a new campaign, "Ecomagination," which advertises its foray into the renewable energy market. This particular video is for GE's wind portfolio, but the campaign includes the various other forms of renewables they are getting involved in. So, the question is... what is GE really doing? Is it an honest approach to advertising GE's operations or not? Check out their website here, http://ge.ecomagination.com/, but also look at an article I came across on Tree Hugger, http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/02/clean-tech-forum-2009-ge-ecomagination-presents-their-green-strategy-video.php.
So, greenwashing or not?
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Green Police Audi
As a French I think this is incredible to see such a Ad on TV! Moreover it was broadcasted during the superbowl. What a shame... In France we have "laws" to limit the greenwashing effect in Ad's, even if it's not really efficient. Anyway we're lucky enough to avoid such a vomiting lie!
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Aberdeen City Square
Currently, Aberdeen is set to lose its only green space in the city centre - to have a 6 acre concrete superstructure (contents unknown as yet - car park / shopping - most likely) - and ACSEF (the company pushing the "consultation") insist that "raising" (read RAZING) the gardens is "greener" and more beneficial for Aberdeen (the company & backers are oil related business men) - so I want people to look at the video they have put out to "convince" Aberdonians that destroying (not only) a heritage site - but the only green space in the centre of Aberdeen - all for "progress"...
the context of this "complaint" is the persistent rhetoric that follows this ambiguous advert. The biggest greenwashing point never addressed by ACSEF is how can destroying an existing greenspace and building a concrete superstructure on it be "green" ? - 6 acres and 4 - 6 floors is a lot of concrete. (Filling in the gardens means bringing around 3,947 dump trucks of earth into the site and 4,605 dump trucks of granite)
Previously planned for the space (now in jeopardy of losing their funding) was a 75% funded (10th the cost!) and sympathetically designed arts centre designed by Brizac Gonzales (which had full planning permission). at 0.75 acres of building footprint, this is an elegant solution to re-energising the space by utilising the steep garden walls - with minimal impact to the existing flora.
for more info and comparisons please visit : http://www.comparethesquare.com
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CLR Power Plumber
I am pretty sure CFCs are banned by law, yet this add brags that they don't have any. Should that go without saying? Under the seven sins of greenwashing, this is considered the sin of irrelevance.
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Hopenhagen
The ad seems inspirational and does support a good cause, to motivate leaders to be decisive at the COP15 summit. However going to the Hopenhagen.org site, there's lack of true substance, other than spreading the word to your friends. There are prominant corporate sponsers though. Fortunately they have links to other campaigns, like "tcktcktck.org" where they do offer information about events you can attend to show your support.
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E.ON - Sustainable City
Very recent video by E.ON, they position as a top video in their own E.ON YouTube Channel. Again E.ON uses a fig leaf example - a sustainable city district project in Malmö/Sweden - to postion themselves as sustainability thought leader. Again the project is outside their core markets e.g. Germany. It is outside their core business - which is coal and nuclear energy production. It moreover pretends that E.ON is a sustainable city solution provider: people in the movie also talk about organic food and local farmers positioning the E.ON brand close to LOHAS consumer segments, which is normally difficult to achieve for an Energy provider - but the sustainabile city provides a platform to reach out to the LOHAS and connect the brand with LOHAS role model examples.
E.ON continues to use fig leaf examples (see tidal power plant ad) to green their brand, instead of proactively talking about their real sustainability challenge in their core business - the coal and nuclear energy and the carbon and nuclear waste footprint.
As long as E.ON does not talk about this key sustainability challenge in ads and does not present the public a credible plan, how to change from non-sustainable energy sources to sustainable ones in an ambitious time frame, their communication strategy with fig leaf examples will most likely always be judged as greenwashing attempts to green the brand at low costs. This is sad since they need pilot projects and pilot examples for innovation e.g. the sustainable city, but the public will only judge those as credible, if the major question - how E.ON becomes a zero-carbon-emission and zero-nuclear-waste company are credibly answered that next generations can trust in.
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E.ON Gezeitenkraftwerk - Tidal Power Plant
E.ON's main energy mix is coal and nuclear, the ad tries to position E.ON as thought leader in renewables with a "fig leaf" example on a tidal power plant project, where
- the plant was not exsisting but only planned
- the project was not in Germany but in the North Coast of the UK; the German speaker not mentions that the project is in the UK and with speakintg German he pretends that the place would be the German coast misleading the audience
- pretends that the project and technology is a key technology making the audience believe that is of high importance for E.ON, which is not reflected in current energy mix and what they actually do
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Coca-Cola Green Ad
Whether it is "Greenwashing" or not, every advertising message that pushes environmental awareness and conservation has to be helping the cause in some way. Although, in reading into this advertisment, Coca-Cola is focusing not primarily on environmental awareness but centering on the concept of "sustainable well-being." I gave this advertisment a 4 for misleading words because it doesn't have any words that describe what the advertisment is about. I think the advertisment mislead with visuals and graphics somewhat, because again, it doesnt tell anything that the company is going to be doing. Although I feel it is a very creative idea to make the can green. The advertisment was very vague and unprovable, it also could put off the vibe that it exaggerated in how green the company is really going because it has no words and just merely a picture. When looking at the advertisment, the Coke can is green, which is basically screaming that the company is moving towards a green mindset. Although, it doesn't really explain what the company is going to start implamenting to aquire this title. I feel they have a wonderful idea with the advertisment, a Coke can is always red and very recognizable and by changing it green, it will most deffiniilty make a bold statement. Although, I think they could improve this image of "going-green" by actually stating on the advertisment what exactly they are planning on doing to help the environment.
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Proud to Feature Bio Fuel Vehicles
The ad claims to be gradually changing their business environment to become more environmentally conscious, but there are some statements that are broad and without evidence.
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Chevy Going Green
Chevrolet has posted this ad in an attempt to out due their competitors. Chevy states that they offer more lines of vehicles which can get 30 miles per gallon (MPG). First, making it competitive deceives the reader into preferring Chevrolet over other companies. What Chevrolet doesn't state is that the other companies listed get better gas mileage in traffic because of more sophisticated emission systems. Chevrolet may be able to get 30+ on the highway, but in town where most drivers are located, Chevrolet vehicles are unable to match their competitors. I gave Chevy a mid grade rating because I feel they can do better when it comes to advertising their green practices. Shutting other companies down in an ad and leaving out pertinent information could be detrimental if the other companies were to backfire. In regards to the actual image I believe Chevy deceives the reader because the cars they are referring to lack great emission systems, therefore they are not "green." Chevy should concentrate on their company and not others. If Chevy has such a better line of vehicles as they state then their vehicles shouldn't be a problem to market/advertise to consumers. Aslo, actual information besides 30mpg could benefit Chevy as well.
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Toyota RAV4 Bunnies
I think this is one of my favorite green ads. You rarely see advertising that ties eco friendly marketing with humor. The visuals are friendly, cute, and harmless, so I can't give it a high rating there. Now, it's not likely or realistic to think that this car is actually beneficial for the environment, so the ad is a little misleading there. I had to give it a higher rating for the misleading words. The ad does not show any facts or figures to prove that the car is any less harmful than other automobiles comparable in size either. The green claim is very vague and doesn't make any solid evidence to its campaign. I had to knock it there. Regardless though, I'm sure nature would prefer bicycles over any car. Bunnies are more likely to choose a mode of transportation that doesn't harm their habitat or squish them under their tires.
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