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North American report - Greenwashing affects 98 % of products

According to a North American report, Seven Sins of Greenwashing, released by TerraChoice Environmental Marketing, an environmental marketing firm based in Ottawa, Canada, 98 % of products surveyed were committing one of their enumerated "sins".

"The good news is that the growing availability of green products shows that consumers are demanding more environmentally responsible choices, and that marketers and manufacturers are listening", said TerraChoice President and CEO Scott McDougall. "The bad news is that TerraChoice's survey of 2,219 consumer products in Canada and the U.S. shows that 98% committed at least one Sin of Greenwashing and that some marketers are exploiting consumers' demand for third-party certification by creating fake labels or false suggestions of third-party endorsement. Despite the number of legitimate eco-labels out there, consumers will still have to remain vigilant in their green purchasing decisions".

The 2009 report focused on children's toys, baby products, cosmetics and cleaning products. These products are most susceptible to greenwashing, McDougall said.

The report also investigated the state of greenwashing in the UK and Australia, including examining almost 1,000 products in each of these two countries, revealing that greenwashing is an international challenge, with at least 94 % of Australian products surveyed engaging in the most popular sin.

According to the firm, the seven sins of greenwashing from least to most common were:
1. Hidden Trade-Off - one environmental issue is emphasized at
the expense of potentially more serious concerns. In other words, when marketing hides a trade-off between environmental issues. Paper, for example, is not necessarily environmentally-preferable just because it comes from a sustainably-harvested forest.

2. No Proof - environmental assertions are not backed up by
evidence or third-party certification. One common example is facial tissue products that claim various percentages of post-consumer recycled content without providing any supporting details.

3. Vagueness - a marketing claim is so lacking in specifics as to be
meaningless. For example "all-natural" can include arsenic, uranium, mercury, and formaldehyde, which are all naturally occurring, and poisonous.

4. False Labels - a false suggestion or certification-like image to mislead consumers into thinking that a product has been through a legitimate green certification process. One example of this Sin is a paper towel product whose packaging has a certification-like image that makes the bold claim that the product ‘fights global warming.'

5. Irrelevance - an environmental issue unrelated to the product is emphasised. One example is the claim that a product is ‘CFC-free', since CFCs are banned by law.

6. Lesser of Two Evils - an environmental claim makes consumers feel ‘green' about a product category that is itself lacking in environmental benefits. Organic cigarettes are an example.

7. Fibbing - environmental claims that are outright false such as claiming false certifications.

Find out more from www.sinsofgreenwashing.org