Avoiding the six sins of greenwashing

1. Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off
2. Sin of No Proof
3. Sin of Vagueness
4. Sin of Irrelevance
5. Sin of Fibbing
6. Sin of Lesser of Two Evils

Recently, many advertisers, and virtually every automotive advertising campaign has its eco-claims. It pops up everywhere.

And I really appreciate the efforts of car manufacturers to go green, aim zero emissions, reduce emissions of CO², go hybrid, hydrogen etc... No doubts about that. We have no choice. We simply have to.

But the point is that
"being less bad doesn't equal being good"
"Driving a car less dirty doesn't mean saving Planet"

Check the Lexus ad above. The Lexus above is Hybrid. In terms of environment, the Product Life cycle of the batteries has its own difficulties, and its average CO²-emission is still 219 g/km !!!!
(To have an idea on "less bad" cars: in Belgium you get a tax reduction of 15% when buying a car with an emission less then 100g CO²/km like Volkswagen Polo BLueMotion, Seat Ibiza EcoMotive etc...)

Good brand communication professionals know their job is about telling the truth in the best way. It is not equal to yelling, overpromising, me-too-ism or just faking. When it comes to green marketing, eco-branding, sustainable business stories etc... there is one other big 'don't': Greenwashing

Terrachoice, the US first environmental marketing agency examined over thousand of products, their eco-claims and the truth behind it. Conclusion: many Green Washing.

To help us (poor agency people assigned to pimp stories), they made a tool. A tool that helps avoiding green washing and build big idea's and sustainable business case in the long run, they've provided a good tool for us.

Click here for "The six sins of greenwashing" and its full explanation. Use it as a check list when creating "green stories" and make sure you tell the full truth in the best way:
More about it at the blogging website where I did found this tool: Celsias.com
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Celsias is a site with critical conversations and opinion on different environmental projects