A few months ago, we launched Greenify Your Business program for businesses. In the process of registering a new business for this program, we got the question to ensure we aren’t a greenwashing company. Our first thought: what is greenwashing? We had never heard of this before! While learning what greenwashing is, our urge to share more about this topic grew as well. Time to dive in! What is greenwashing, and how are greenwash companies ripping you off?
What is greenwashing?
Greenwash companies ripping you off, sounds a bit harsh, right? But, why? Greenwashing can be explained by the following: a greenwashing company pretends to be greener or socially more responsible than they are. They deliberately express they care about environmental or sustainable subjects, but this is only for branding purposes. When we got the question ‘what is greenwashing?’ answered, we as green business owners got sick to our stomachs.
Let us give you an example of how greenwashing can take place: a company donates to a charity, but the products they sell are produced with child labor involved. This automatically means that not all companies apply greenwashing on purpose. Some companies simply feel the urge to donate and simply don’t feel the need to change the core management of their business (and stop working with child labor in our example). Other companies, however, actively use their act of donating (or any other green act) to pretend to be “the good guy”. These companies, in our opinion, are the true greenwash companies that rip you off.
How do you recognize a greenwashing company, and how are they ripping you off?
After learning what greenwashing is, we now take it to the next level. How do you recognize a greenwashing company?
1). A greenwashing company is too good to be true…
- When buying sustainable products, you quickly learn those usually are a bit higher priced. You have absolutely nothing to worry about since sustainable products usually have a longer lifespan. The moment you find a sustainable product that is offered for the same (or even a lower price) than regular products, it’s time to do thorough research. How can this sustainable product be offered for such a low price? It could very well be that this company is using words such as ‘sustainable’ in their branding to boost their sales. Be aware and know that when it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
2). They are 100%, absolutely, and fully committed to sustainability…
- Greenwash companies tend to go overboard by stating the green work they do, or donations they make. It’s important to know that even if a product contains just 1% natural ingredients, the company can brand its product as being ‘natural’. Again: do your research! The rule is that the more obvious their statements are, the more likely it is they are a greenwashing company.
3). We AIM to work with…
- This automatically leads us to the next way to recognize a greenwashing company: vague statements! We, The Green Stamp, work with ethical wildlife projects. We specify which guidelines we use for a project to be labeled as ‘ethical’. Besides this, we even check the things the wildlife projects claim to do or donate. Which statement does the company make, and do they give you a substantiation for this?
4). We are against animal testing
- Awesome, so are we! However, stating some things, don’t rule automatically out the company to work cruelty-free. Which words are used by the company? And is there a way the company provides a way to find support for the words used?
Some final thoughts on greenwash companies
We appreciate we got asked if we are a greenwashing company. It meant two important things to us:
- The person who asked, was simply doing her ‘duty’ by asking & researching our true intentions
- It made us even more aware of the downside of marketing
Our research has taught us that there are a lot of possibilities within branding & marketing. You can claim to sell organic clothing, though the manufacturing process doesn’t have to be sustainable. The power of words used is incredible and, in these times, sometimes very misleading. The biggest advice we can give you to track down greenwash companies is by doing more research. Also, feel free to ask questions. It shows you care, and their response on its own can be of great help.
We’ve felt shocked, learning about the question ‘what is greenwashing’. We now also feel more balanced. Furthermore, we have learned to recognize the greenwash companies and what signs to be aware of. Now the ball is in our court. We have shifted from being unaware to being aware. We invite you to join the awareness regarding greenwash companies and take the action required.
Written by: Carmen Castricum
6 Responses
It’s so shocking how many businesses act like they’re green/sustainable/vegan. Some of them even get support from the government, for example advertising on television. 😭
Yes, it’s actually a very big issue because it’s such a misleading thing to do..
It is sad to hear that people using terms as ecological and sustainable just to grow their business. Thanks for writing this article!
We thought it was such an important topic to give attention to. It really made us more aware of doing more research and finding the true sustainable brands
Thank you so much for sharing this knowledge. It is shocking how easily the terms sustainable, green, ecological are used nowadays and people just assume the companies are true to what they say. It is really misleading…
Yes it really is! We honestly feel it should be regulated in some sort of way, because such an important topic may never be used just for marketing purposes..
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