Green Washing and Its Effects on Consumer Perspectives

assuage any guilt they might feel about consuming mass quantities of unnecessary, disposable goods by dutifully tossing these items into their recycling bins and hauling them out to the curb each week”. (Westervelt, Amy. "Can Recycling Be Bad for the Environment?" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 25 Apr. 2012. Web. 5 Dec. 2015). So why is the reason that companies are starting to “Go Green”? Its clearly obvious that the change in America from an industrial country to a environmental country has taught big business how to market environmentalism in mass quantities of their product. The strategy of the consumption-environment mindset are increasing rapidly. If this trend of buying without thinking does not slow down, with problems like not shifting priority from consumption to being environmentally aware, things will certainly worsen. On the topic of green marketing, people often see that green marketing refers to the advertising of objects or products with environmental characteristics to them (Like the Nestle bottle, for example). Terms like “Environmentally Friendly”, “Refillable”, and “Recyclable”, are some of the things people associate with green marketing. In reality

The corporate deconstruction of green – green crimes are the result of behaviours displayed by groups or a single individual. Corporations play an integral role in the term green because of the influence they have on various environmental movement groups through donations, funding and political strongholds.

Not everything they do it green and they need to make sure that if they want their customers to go green they can prove they can too. They have started to change the operations and bringing in new items that are green.

Designing and using sustainable products is the important topic which all human should seriously consider about. The technological development in recent decades significantly improved the average standard of living world widely while that destroyed natural environments on the earth. The speaker John P. O’Grady in TED Talk pointed out that how unsustainable products have terribly contributed to the devastation of the environment. For instance, Mr. O’Grady showed the audience that the study of marine pollution and metaphorically expressed the situation as the toilet which has not been flushed for a long time. Besides that, there are many other problems causing negative impacts. These environmental destructions harm not only nature but also the

Clorox Produces various cleaning products such as bleach and all-purpose cleaner. In 2008 Clorox unveiled a line of cleaning products called “Clorox GreenWorks.” GreenWorks products claim to use natural ingredients making the products eco-friendly. However, the Clorox GreenWorks campaign contains elements of greenwashing. While GreenWorks products contain natural ingredients, the containers themselves are made of plastic and are still disposed of. Furthermore, the ingredient “corn-based ethanol”, found in GreenWorks products, has been shown to be environmentally toxic. After researching the product further, I noticed that Clorox had committed a few of the sins of greenwashing. The first sin in question is the sin of no proof: an environmental claim that cannot be substantiated by easily accessible supporting information or by a reliable third-party certification. Clorox claims that 96% of its ingredients are naturally derived, however I couldn’t find any evidence to support this claim on their website. The Natural Products Association also hasn’t certified Clorox’s GreenWorks laundry detergent which raises more questions. Next, the sin of vagueness: A claim that is so poorly defined or broad that its real meaning is likely to be misunderstood by the consumer. For instance Clorox, and many other companies, uses the word “natural” in a lot of their products. Clorox fails to elaborate on what they mean by “natural”. Natural doesn’t necessarily mean

Social: Deceiving the public like Volkswagen (VW) did not only diminishes the company’s reputation, but also public trust in the business, and therefore increases consumers’ belief in ‘greenwashing’ or ‘greenfrauding’ (3p Contributor, 2016). As a result, consumers will start supporting a more ‘trustworthy’ and ‘environmentally friendly’ car manufacturers.

Additionally, on a socio-cultural level, many consumers feel that restaurants partaking in green initiatives and operations are doing their part to not only help sustain the earth but also to conserving natural resources (Hu, Parsa & Self, 2010). “Going green” is not simply a trend in the food service industry but around the world and in all forms of business. Corporate companies consider “going green” as a sensible business strategy in building recognition for corporate social responsibility among consumers concerned with environmental conservation efforts. Lastly, technological initiatives such as Energy Star appliances (dishwashers, refrigerators, ice machines, etc.) and faucets that use less water must also be analyzed in their ecological conservation capability and weighed against their financial costs (University of Notre Dame, 2014).

In this day and age companies have mastered the technique of misleading customers by fabricating false claims about a green product or service that they swear to provide. This insincere display of information is called ‘Greenwashing’, a spin-off of ‘Whitewashing’. Greenwashing could be said to be a global phenomenon and it’s commonly seen in advertisements, on products packing, websites, emails, speeches, and videos (just to name a few). Greenwashing is a thought out process, a planned and typically well designed campaign. There is a wide range of reasons why companies are eager to partake in greenwashing; divert attention for regulatory change, to persuade critics or consumers, expand the company's

Nowadays, people are becoming increasingly aware of environmental protection. Going green is a term used to refer to a series of process aimed at embracing an environmental and ecologically friendly lifestyle while at the same time adhering to legal and social norms aimed at practicing the environments and natural resources. The adoption of gen strategies by governments and most industry players is informed by the adverse effects of climate change that continue to increase the costs of production while at the same time accelerating environmental degradation.

One major problem as far as companies using green marketing and why it isn’t working is that the relatively vague definition of green marketing leaves a lot of room for loopholes. Green marketing, by simply being defined as “the marketing of products that are assumed to be environmentally safe,” allows companies to take advantage of this idea even if their products are not the best example of green ones (McClendon 1). Most companies also don’t practice what they preach in such

According to Terrachoice, greenwashing is, “the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service” (Terrachoice, 2007). Green marketing is an important component of company general business operations and sustainability strategies. But on the other hand, if the organizations are not designed properly, a company’s green marketing efforts and sustainability attempts might be ruined by greenwashing allegations. Greenwashing creates negative impacts on company’s reputation and it damages relstionships with different stakeholders and organizaional behaviour. Hence, companies should select suitable standards and certifications to minimize

At approximately seven billion individuals, the population of the Earth continues to grow exponentially. Global warming, safe disposal of waste, and the renewability of resources have been a growing concern due to the massive amounts of waste that is being accumulated from over consumption. Furthermore, urban sprawl has been an ongoing trend among consumers that contributes to the waste dilemma. In society, the effort to address these issues has become known as sustainability initiatives or “green” movement. Many communities have launched recycling programs to support the initiative. With pressure from both consumers and governments to adopt sustainable business practices, it may be in the best interest of product manufactures to promote sustainability together with their product attributes. Various companies have already promoted sustainability through their products, while several have gone above and beyond to attach their brands to this movement in pursuance of a greener image. Coke, for example, did more than just print the little recycling logo on their packaging, the company came out with T-shirts that were completely made out of recycled plastic

Global ecological concerns have penetrated the business world in a number of ways. One of the strongest evidences can be found in the concept and practice known as “green marketing.” Even though there is no standard definition for green marketing, the term can be generally referred to as a holistic marketing concept that considers the environmental impacts of products and services marketed to the customers. According to author Jeremy Kourdi, green marketing covers a broad range of sustainable activities that align with concerns about pollution, climate change and global warming, and waste management (86). Green marketing, as a practice, can be applied in service-oriented businesses such as

Eco-labeling schemes provide consumers with information about the environmental quality of individual products, at the point of purchase, in order to enable them to choose

Numerous individuals trust that green marketing alludes exclusively to the advancement or publicizing of items with ecological qualities. Accordingly green promoting consolidates an expansive scope of exercises, including bundling changes, changes to the generation process, item adjustment and in addition changing or altering publicizing.