There is nothing new about misleading advertising. The art of marketing is essentially the craft of making less appear to be more. However, I think that advertisers sink to new lows when they capitalize on the green movement, making a quick buck on the gullible and good intentioned.


There are recent reports on a growing trend in US supermarkets; greenwashing is the new boogieman to fear on our quest to become a more environmentally conscious society. Supposedly 98% of all environment-friendly products available for purchase are making bogus claims about their green qualifications, reported by the Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/21/green-environment-ecology-congress-us-supermarkets.


Part of the problem is proliferation. The market has been flooded with self-certifying manufacturers pitching products claiming to be “non-toxic”, “natural”, “fragrance-free”, etc., but indeed the larger problem lies in the fact that we have no unifying standard of compliance, no single regulating body to keep these companies honest. There are over 300 competing certification programs backing up these false claims and even Energy Star certified products are dubious, due to their lack of a sufficient verification process. Who are we to trust? What brands are actually green? Or is green just a 5 lettered word with an eco-conscious tint to attract my eye to the label?


I spoke with a friend who works for an industrial chemical company managing compliance issues with OSHA, the EPA, and the FDA. His frustration comes from conflicting guidelines set forth by these governing bodies. For him, it is simple; the EPA should have the last word on every product manufactured. But until there is a standard set of regulations that every manufacturer must abide by, you have to do your homework.


Familiarize yourself with the “Seven Sins of Greenwashing”, http://sinsofgreenwashing.org/findings/greenwashing-report-2009/. Other worthy resources include the Good Guide (http://www.goodguide.com/), which reviews and rates a wide range of products for safety, health and green standards, and CleanGredients (http://www.cleangredients.org/home), which is an online resource for green formulation in cleaning products. The best we can do for now is to educate ourselves and use our buying power to demand better business practices and support companies that are truly making green strides in the industry.