May 12 2008
Why Greenwash won’t work
Sustainable marketing is good, Greenwash is bad. That seems to be the gist of recent articles on this blog and elsewhere including the Sunday Times. So how exactly do they differ? How do you undertake marketing without running the risk of tokenism?
Most of the targets of activists are large corporate organisations, who generally use a product launch to boast about its green credentials without considering the company’s wider environmental strategy. Environmentalists, and many customers, find it difficult to reconcile the “green” messages with the company’s other activities or its history. One of the great rules of marketing is that you have to deliver on your promise and customers do not see these companies delivering.
So as a marketing consultant there are a few simples rules that I recommend to clients undertaking sustainable marketing :
- Try to make it more than a gimmick. Take steps to make sustainability a strategy of your organisation, not a marketing tactic. Customer s will see through anything less.
- Make sure it’s real. If you promise to offset your carbon emissions, then do it.
- And don’t let concerns about greenwash put you off from doing the right thing. That’s akin to not recycling your newspapers because you’re worried that you drive a 4×4. So if in doubt, just do it!
Greenwash is so apt.
I drove into work this morning behind an huge 4×4 truck branded in BT colours with a GREEN sticker on the back saying ‘In order to reduce environmental impact this vehicle is limited to 70 mph’ - and there was me thinking the law of the land limited driving speeds to 70 mph!!!
good point well made - the real concern here for me is that if BT are so worried about being green why is are they using ‘huge 4×4 trucks’ - I wonder just how much time that vehicle spends off-road where it might need those sexy 4×4 capabilities????