Issues: Going Green - Greenwashing becomes a PR issue for marketers. Published April - May 2008 Greenwashing, the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service, is an emerging issue confronting Australian marketers and their PR advisors. Many companies, in the rush to embrace ‘sustainability’ and to be seen to be eco friendly, are embarking on ‘green marketing’ campaigns.  And too often, in their rush to impress the public, they are making propositions that are ‘stretched’ at best, or simply not sustainable when put to the test. In fact an April 08 report by Nielson Online calls greenwashing a “failed corporate strategy” focusing in particular on the critical comments of bloggers saying that the online buzz volume is growing on this topic as they discuss the contradictory actions of companies. As the Financial Week report on the Nielsen Report says - “when it comes to going green companies just can’t fake it”. In February the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) released Green Marketing and the Trade Practices Act because of its concern that many small to medium businesses were falling into the greenwashing trap and needed guidance. Ironically, almost immediately it was two multi-nationals - Coca Cola and Unilever - that found themselves under a strong media attack, accused of greenwashing here in Australia. But there are a host of companies and products, including Cascade beer and Alinta Gas already lining up to go public with their ‘green credentials’.  Time will tell whether they are subject to the same scrutiny. In this issue of PR Influences we provide an overview of issues surrounding greenwashing for Australian marketers and internal public relations staffs. What’s happening internationally? Sustainability is BIG for the major multi-nationals.  It’s gone far beyond mining, housing, and other like-organisations embracing it because they are forced to; now major marketers are getting into the act because they want to and because they perceive it may give them a competitive advantage. Advertising Age quotes Coca-Cola, General Electric, Toyota, IBM and others as all rushing to embrace it and many of them unveiling marketing and advertising campaigns. Another article also portrayed how giants Unilever and P&G are battling to ‘tout programs that benefit humanity because it offers big payoffs for marketers’. What does the consumer think? Research everywhere shows that consumers want the companies they buy from to be seen as responsible and contributing more to the planet. However, it’s an ‘ideal’ that consumers are stating to research. As companies try harder and harder to meet that need (and many fail doing so) there’s evidence that consumers can quickly change their attitude and turn on those that they perceive have deceived them. In short, the public will likely embrace those products or services that do it properly, but there will be a strong backlash against those they perceive to be pulling the wool over their eyes. What about the green claims that companies are making? Internationally, advertising watchdogs in several countries are stepping up efforts to censor advertisers who make false claims. The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority recently took the Malaysian Palm Oil Council to task for claiming the industry was good for the environment in its television advertising. And in the US the Federal Trade Commission has been active, with a manufacturer of infant feed bottles being targeted by authorities for false green claims. In Australia, the starting point to understanding what can and can’t be done in green marketing is the recently released 24 page ACCC Green Marketing Guide .  It has some excellent guidance for over-enthusiastic brand or marketing managers, their CEO’s who should be monitoring what they propose, advertising agencies and PR agencies.  The guide puts a strong focus on claims that cannot be substantiated or claims that are too general or unqualified… and they provide plenty of Australian examples. The ACCC has also recently signalled that it plans to aggressively scrutinise and monitor green marketing campaigns. In one of the most blatant examples of a marketer trying to jump on the green bandwagon the ACCC publicly castigated GM Holden for making false claims about the greenness of Saab vehicles which it markets in Australia and its claim that planting 17 native trees would offset carbon emissions generated by the car.  The ACCC is not only taking GM Holden to court; it is seeking to review GM Holden’s trade practices compliance program. (Interestingly authorities in Belgium also asked Saab pull a print advertising campaign for making dubious environment-related claims. And in Norway all car ads are banned from making any green claims!) The ACCC has also issued a ‘please explain’ to Energy Australia for some of its practices as well as bringing Origin Energy to task over some of its television advertising.  Expect to see more of this from the ACCC.   What role does the media play? The media has a key role to play. While marketers mainly use paid advertising and marketing techniques to carry a green story to the consumer, the media is often the only ‘independent’ source to endorse or discredit the claims being made. However, too often the media finds itself caught between ‘experts’ on both sides of an argument and ends up simply reporting the different viewpoints and leaving the consumer to judge for themselves. After all, some of the companies are big advertisers! However, some media will take a stance. One Australian journalist already doing this is Julian Lee, Marketing Reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald.  His February articles ‘Message on a bottle labelled as greenwash ’ and ‘Green claims come with big spin cycle’,  followed by his March 6 article ‘Unilever’s pitch dissolves in the wash’, along with the space the newspaper devoted to these three articles, give fair warning that greenwashing is certainly on the media agenda.  The lead he took resulted in a couple of trade publications, which generally don’t criticise too much, also casting a critical eye at Coca-Cola and Unilever. Ordinarily companies, especially multi-nationals, could expect to ‘fly under the media radar’ in Australia with such practices.  They must have been shocked to have been hit by such criticism and their overseas masters must have wondered what Australians were drinking! What does this all mean for PR? There is a real danger that with the rush to do green marketing that PR staff will simply get caught up in the “let’s tell everyone” syndrome.  In short - “we’ve decided what we want to say - it’s your job to help us communicate it”.  That’s most likely to occur where PR within organisations is seen as functional rather than strategic and is staffed by people who don’t have a direct reporting line to the Marketing Director and/or CEO. The real PR role should be to act as the ‘devils advocate’. This means critically examining the green initiative from a public and media perspective in a way that examines possible shortcomings and dangers and alerts the organisation to them before going public. To be able to provide sound Public Relations advice, it’s first necessary to thoroughly research everything connected with your proposal, as well as undertake an environmental scan. This will include: obtaining a briefing from the organisation’s legal counsel to be sure that the proposal has been examined in relation to the Trade Practices Act, and if so what areas of the proposed initiative were through to be the most ‘sensitive’ and why they are considered to be OK. studying the ACCC’s approach.  Going through the Green Marketing and the Trade Practices Act  and cross-checking every example against what is proposed by your organisation. Also, going through all the media statements ACCC has issued to note their concerns. undertaking an international and Australian media search to ascertain what’s been published a) specifically re environmental/green initiatives in your sector and, b) generally of the type of initiative proposed. monitoring the Australian online space to see what ‘chatter’ there is about eco initiatives and green marketing on blogs and in forums. interrogating those who have come up with the initiative.  You don’t want to just be given a PowerPoint presentation about the finished campaign. You need to go right back to the start of the project and understand the journey they have been on to get to this point. You especially want to understand their fears and concerns, and the roadblocks they faced.  Assuming that you are satisfied that the initiative is soundly based, the PR task is then to draw up a full communications program. This will identify critical audiences to reach, influencers and media (both traditional and online) who may need special communication and a whole host of stakeholders from staff to dealers/retailers who need to be thoroughly briefed. The bottom line is that green marketing should not just be created by the marketing department or an advertising agency (or PR agency). It has to be based on a very firm premise and part of an organisation’s fundamental approach to business.  In the short term it is likely that the greatest role PR might have will be in helping organisations which want to jump on the green bandwagon from doing it badly and being accused of greenwashing.  Network PR, publishers of PR Influences, is a Sydney-based pr agency that provides public relations advice and guidance. For a no-obligation discussion click here. From our PRI archives see - ‘Green is a commitment - not a veneer’

Network PR, publisher of PR Influences, specialises in Online PR including both social media and search engine optimisation. To read more about their services click here. To make a no-obligation enquiry click here.