Authenticity Within the Greenwashing Pandemic
Once in a while, I get the feeling that everything’s been done. I become bored with what’s being toted as the latest and greatest – and these days, the buzzword is green.
My mother was a carpenter and a forest ranger… also an intellectual, a bit of a flower child, and an intensely caring individual. So as you might imagine, I was raised with a certain amount of appreciation and respect for the natural world. When it became apparent that more people in my own demographic seemed to be acknowledging and embracing concepts like social responsibility and environmental awareness, I was thrilled. I thought, finally – the middle class is starting to open their eyes.
Now, I feel rather ill at ease with the whole thing. I’m not implying that people don’t care – quite the opposite. A growing number of consumers want to do the right thing, but there remain two major problems with this. The first is a question of motivation… why do they care? How many of them are just being trendy? The second problem is the fact that we’re all being lied to. Over the course of one year, the number of products making ‘green’, ‘natural’ or ‘eco’ claims increased by 79% – which would be fantastic were it not for the fact that most of these claims are either fraudulent, unverifiable, or otherwise misleading (check out the latest Greenwashing Report).
These problems are not new, but given the context it’s taken on a new level of malignancy. I don’t want the world we live in to become the next discarded fad.
For those of us who run our own companies there are significant hurdles to face in terms of the decisions we make both personally, and professionally. On the personal front, as business owners, what we do in our personal lives inevitably bleeds into our work. Many of our clients have come to our company after having researched not only Sage Media as a business, but also the individuals who work here. Social media has rendered the faceless CEO extinct.
Be aware that everything you do publicly reflects on your professional life in some way. If your company is making corporate social responsibility claims, eschewing slave labour, for example… and you’re then seen shopping at Sprawl-Mart… well, you do the math. I’m not saying these big box stores use slaves directly (forget about their treatment of their own employees) but through their pursuit of the lowest price and their phenomenal buying power, they pressure their vendors to engage in increasingly cheap and unethical manufacturing and procurement strategies, which means – you guessed it – irresponsible raw material sourcing and sweatshop labour in some poor country overseas.
As a business owner, you need to be honest and authentic when making any claims, of any sort. Just because the FDA hasn’t yet written any rules for usage of the word ‘natural’, it doesn’t mean you should use it on everything simply in the hopes of duping well-meaning customers. Poison Ivy is natural, as are any number of toxic or poisonous elements. They’re not good for you.
When marketing a product with a ‘green’ advantage, make damn sure you can both justify and back up your claims – not just because it’s the right thing to do, but also because almost nobody will believe you right off the bat now that consumers are wising up to the game.
If third-party endorsement is important to you, then go through the steps to actually get it. Don’t have an unscrupulous designer draw up a fake certificate or label. Don’t try to make a customer feel ‘green’ about a choice that is harmful or unnecessary, and make sure you have an honest understanding of all of the environmental impacts of your product, across its entire lifecycle. Check out The Story of Stuff – it’s really getting around, and more of your customers are going to be asking tough questions as awareness builds.
You don’t need to wear a hemp poncho or stop using soap… all you need to do is be educated and honest.
I’ve always been a strong proponent of transparency in business. My own model is simple: Say what you do, and DO what you say. Being honest is so much easier than pulling your hair out trying to back up a tangled web of exaggerations and false claims. And if you’re lying to your customers, they WILL find out. As they say, one bad review is more influential than twenty good ones.
Top Image: Matteo Cibic’s desk tamagotchi, each of which is one-of-a-kind and custom blown to match its individual cactus’ shape. A green design that also just happens to be adorable.
