Eco Friendly Green Brands

Climate change has produced a landscape where products are marketed on their environmental credentials. Mike Fletcher finds out whether their communication strategies are just a "greenwash"
Ariel is asking you to “Turn to 30” when using your washing machine. In its current campaign, the Procter & Gamble brand is attracting plaudits from environmentalists and the media industry alike for communicating the message that by turning to 30 degrees on a washing machine, households can save, on average, 41% on energy consumption.

By offering a sustainable solution, Ariel has successfully and responsibly aligned its brand with the fight against climate change – a concept WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell recently described as “no longer the fanciful risk of marginal changes in weather, based on scant evidence”.

According to the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP), the market for green goods changes fast, as does the data advertisers must use to substantiate their claims and avoid accusations of “greenwash” – a practice defined by John Grant, the co-founder of agency St Luke’s in his book The Green Marketing Manifesto. He says: “You can’t put a lettuce in the window of a butcher’s shop and declare that you are now ‘turning vegetarian’.”

Several brands have already fallen foul of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). On 26 March, Renault was forced to withdraw a press ad showing leaves emerging from the exhaust pipe of its Twingo car after the ASA ruled that the company had “exaggerated the environmental benefits” of the vehicle.

And in May 2007, a magazine ad for the Lexus RX400h was headlined “High performance, low emissions, zero guilt”. The ASA upheld complaints that Lexus had exaggerated how environmentally friendly an SUV hybrid could be.

In fact, in the first six months of 2007, the ASA received 268 complaints about 200 “green ads”. And the number has risen greatly from 2006 as green communications have become more commonplace.

Speaking at the Branding for Good summit at Canary Wharf in March this year, Sorrell went on to say: “You may be able to fool people once, but not twice. You will be found out if your green claims do not stand up to scrutiny. Long-term brand building depends critically on an understanding of the needs of all constituencies.”

For those that plan green communications, therefore, factual up-to-the-minute evidence to substantiate environmental claims is, and will continue to be, a constant challenge.

But with “greenwash” an all-too-easy accusation to throw, it’s not just consumer-facing communications strategies that need to have all the facts. Agencies, media owners and brands are making sure corporate social responsibility (CSR) is high up the agenda in the workplace as well, ensuring an ethically sound environment from which to communicate responsible sustainable messages

Back to top