CM/Spotlight: Sustainability Greenwashing: The False Advertising Of The Green Movement Don’t let the idea of green overshadow what being green really means. By: Amanda Martini-Hughes, assistant editor G Amanda Martini-Hughes is the assistant editor of Cleaning & Maintenance Management magazine. A graduate from Siena College, she can be reached at [email protected]. Since joining the publication, Martini-Hughes has worked on numerous industry articles and is responsible for populating the industry’s only daily electronic newsletter, CM e-News Daily. Chat online: Facebook.com/CMMOnline and Twitter.com/CMeNewsDaily. for more info Visit www.cmmonline.com and type in search keyword: Greenwashing . For more information on related products, visit www.cmmonline.com , select SUPPLIER SEARCH from the main navigation bar, and enter keyword: Green Cleaning . Going “green” used to be more of an envi-ronmental movement, one started to pro-tect the fragile state of Earth’s atmosphere and raise awareness when it came to what our choices were doing to the air we breathe and the water we drink. Somewhere along the way, consumers and producers alike began to realize that simple awareness wouldn’t be enough to stop and perhaps reverse the damage done to our planet. Out of awareness grew the need and the desire to change the way products were made, sold and how much of an impact they left behind. Today, we can see the green movement in almost every aspect of our lives, from cleaner fuel in automobiles to less plastic in our water bottles. The green movement has filtered down to the very products we use to clean. With the consumer becoming more and more eco-conscious, it seems almost natural that more and more “green” products are popping up on the market. But, not all things are created equally. While the consumer puts their faith in words like “all-natural,” “eco-friendly” and “Earth friendly,” in a lot of cases, they’re the victims of the all-too-common practice of “greenwashing.” Advertising products with vague language can be a disguise for the negative attributes of an offering. What Is Greenwashing? Greenwashing occurs when a product or com-pany uses environmental terms in a loose and unsubstantiated manner. While the state of the environment is a real problem that concerns us all, there are companies trying to jump on the environmentally preferred bandwagon. Oftentimes, in order to increase revenues, a company will simply rebrand their product without making any fundamental changes. The formulas, processing protocols, packaging and shipping — all pieces to the environmentally friendly puzzle — stay the same; the only thing that changes are the claims on the label. 34 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • May 2011
CMM – Archives May 2011: 34
