Stranger Danger

As a child growing up in the nineties a common lesson taught annually was to steer clear of unknown strangers. Phrases like “Stranger danger” and the repeated yelling of “You’re not my mom” were common tactics to ultimately help us avoid abduction. The trick of the stranger was to tempt children with something appealing to get their attention; similarly, companies bait consumers into buying their product with false advertising. Unfortunately, it is sometimes easier to catch a kidnapper than it is to catch a greenwasher.

In Eco-promising: communicating the environmental credentials of your products and services, they define eco-promising as “the practice of making claims about the environmental attributes of products.” In The Greenwash Guide the negative of this is referred to as greenwashing, which is defined as “an environmental claim, which is unsubstantiated (a fib) or irrelevant (a distractions). Found in advertising, PR or on packaging, and made about people, organizations and products.” Just like the man creeping around the corner in a large black minivan, greenwash isn’t just a nuisance it’s dangerous.

From Eco-promising I found that Eco-promising has been around since 1977, and without a strict way to regulate the promises companies are making it has been allowed to run wild and expand. Eco-promising’s system was created to combine two innovations: life-cycle analysis to trace product environmental performance and third party assurance. In 1998, three types of labels were characterized by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Type I: declarations that meet criteria set by third parties, and are based on life-cycle impacts. These are award-type labels. They require the product to meet independently set criteria.

Type II: manufacturers’ or retailers’ own declarations or ‘green claims.’ There are no pre-defined criteria, nor is there verification by independent bodies.

Type III: quantified information about products based on life-cycle impacts on specific aspects such as energy output.

Eco-promising, although it still has kinks that need to be worked out, is still an important step in making our companies more environmentally sustainable and consumers more aware.  According to Eco-promising, some of the benefits of eco-promising include enhancing company reputations and increasing sales; on the other side, the obstacles mentioned include the problem of confused consumers and greenwashing.

Thankfully, a pattern has begun to develop making it easier to identify signs of greenwashing. In The Greenwash Guide they list 10 greenwashing giveaways:

1.     Fluffy language

a.     Words with no clear meaning. For example, “eco-friendly.”

2.     Green products v dirty company

3.     Suggestive pictures

4.     Irrelevant claims

a.     Emphasizing one green attribute that the company is proud of in order to distract from every other aspect that is un-green

5.     Best in class

6.     Just not credible

a.     For example: ecofriendly cigarettes? Making a dangerous product “green” doesn’t make it safe.

7.     Gobbledygook

8.     Imaginary friends

a.     They may have a label from a third party endorsement…except the whole thing is made up.

9.     No Proof

10. Out-right lying

Looking at brands featured on ecofashionworld.com it is easy to see that not every brand is as reliable as they say they are.  For example, the brand Thieves promotes itself on using sustainable fabrics, the proof for their statement is when they list the fabrics like hemp blends, organic linens, beeswaxed organic cottons, and peace silk to show that they are aware of the materials they are using.

The brand Nature 89 advertises using 100% unblended organic cotton and eco-friendly, water-based dyes. From previous readings we have learned that 100% unblended organic cotton may not be the most impressive form of cotton to use. We have also learned to approach garments that advertise themselves as “eco-friendly” and don’t go into the details that make their garments, or in this case dye, eco-friendly. The plus side to this brand is that they are part of the 1% movement.

The brand English Retreads brags that they are one hundred percent vegan though they don’t go into any detail on how they are achieving that.

These are examples that there are brands out there that are following through with their eco-promises and that there are brands out there that know how to use the right words. As a consumer it is important to remember not to believe everything you read or hear. The more you know the more of an educated purchase decision you will be able to make. Do not be fooled by everything that is thrown your way to entice you into buying companies products or you could just find yourself a victim to greenwash.