Car Wash

As the price of gasoline continues to rise and Americans are suddenly aware of environmental issues, a growth in "green" products has flooded the marketplace as well as the car lot. Whether a result of our sudden environmental conscience, or an attempt to downsize vehicles and our homes, green marketing is once again in style. Many marketers are again revisiting the value of promoting their products as being "green" to attract a growing environmentally aware segment. In attracting a green audience, companies often use claims that sound environmental, but are actually vague, and at times may be false. This multitude of vague environmental claims has caused consumers to question corporate honesty. The concern over greenwashing is not only that it mislead consumers, but also that if unscrupulous marketers continue to claim to be environmentally friendly, then companies true to their environmental mission lose their competitive edge.

INTRODUCTION

In the early 1990s, we saw a rapid rise in products touting environmental claims. The "green" phenomenon of the '90s disappeared as rapidly as it appeared, but today many manufacturers are again revisiting the value of promoting their products, or even themselves, as being green to attract a growing environmentally aware segment. In attracting a green audience, companies often use claims that sound environmentally friendly, but are actually vague, and at times may be false. As a result, "Greenwashing" has become commonplace in our market. Greenwashing is the dissemination of false or incomplete information by an organization to present an environmentally responsible public image.

The proliferation of environmental disinformation, or greenwashing, has become so common and is of such a concern, that EnviroMedia developed the Greenwashing Index to monitor environmental claims used by manufacturers (Miller, 2008). On the web site, anyone can post ads deemed to be misleading and rate how the deception compares with other ads. Greenwashingindex.com is the result of the incredible growth of green claims in the past few years. The site allows consumers an outlet to express concerns and raise questions about these environmental claims. By giving the public a channel to judge these messages, consumers have put marketers on guard that environmental claims will not go unchecked.

Journal of Applied Business and Economics

TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY CASES

When pointing to greenwashing, one of the most cited examples is Ford Motor Company's "It Isn't Easy Being Green" campaign for the hybrid Escape SUV. While touting itself as being environmentally friendly, Ford's cars were considered the worst carbon emitters and had the worst fuel efficiency trend of any major automaker according to Union of Concerned Scientists (Friedman