Sunday, March 27, 2011
Greenwashing and deceptive advertising
Let us assume that the study by TerraChoice is correct. Is greenwashing deceptive advertising? It is certainly immoral - whatever the law says - to advertise products without warning about their dangerous side-effects? But what about "environmental" side-effects? Should concrete legislation prohibit vagueness and exaggeration that cannot be proven false? The Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drugs Administration prohibit exaggerated claims for health products boasting of unfounded disease prevention. Can they legislate against such environmental claims? What level of
transparency can consumers realistically hold corporations accountable for when it comes to complex ecological
relationships that are very difficult to establish? Green messages are audited for how they go wrong. Should they be judged for where they do not go right? Moreover, do business firms have any responsibility - besides what is stated in the law - to educate customers? Should they go green even if consumers are not willing to pay more for environmentally friendly products?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Personally, I feel as though “greenwashing” by the marketing departments of manufacturers is an unethical practice. In addition to falsely advertising these products, the companies are being rewarded for their misleading advertising techniques by charging consumers a higher premium for these types of goods. Regardless of what legislation governs such advertisements, greenwashing should be viewed as wrong on a moral premise because it violates the virtue of honesty.
ReplyDeleteIn defense of the companies, the majority of the claims by TerraChoice were only subject to scrutiny based on the fact that they were vague. A rather low percentage of their research found that companies made explicitly false claims about a product. The shame of these findings is two-fold: consumers are defrauded, and an overwhelming majority of the products offer no proof in being environmentally friendly. Ultimately, I think the FTC should step in to protect consumers against these unfair marketing practices. The TerraChoice study evidences the claim that marketers will not guide their behavior responsibly through a code of ethics; they must be legally responsible for their actions.
From an ethical standpoint, I believe that "greenwashing" is completely unethical. Furthermore, I believe that the main purpose for this form of marketing is to get the consumers who are concerned for the environment to buy the "go-green" related products. They are making decisions to buy more expensive goods because the buyers think it is in favor of a cleaner and more sufficient World. The problem is that these products aren't helping anyone, only hurting people and the environment more. So therefore, there is no reason to charge an excessive amount of money for misleading products. The advertising is very dishonest and unethical and these products should not be in the competitive market.
ReplyDeleteFrom an ethical standpoint, I believe that "greenwashing" is completely unethical. Furthermore, I believe that the main purpose for this form of marketing is to get the consumers who are concerned for the environment to buy the "go-green" related products. They are making decisions to buy more expensive goods because the buyers think it is in favor of a cleaner and more sufficient World. The problem is that these products aren't helping anyone, only hurting people and the environment more. So therefore, there is no reason to charge an excessive amount of money for misleading products. The advertising is very dishonest and unethical and these products should not be in the competitive market.
ReplyDeleteI think greenwashing is very unethical, if they lying that they are helping the environment and they are charging a higher price for it that is horrible. There are actually people out there who are willing to pay a higher price for environmentally safe products, and these companies are taking advantage of their good nature.
ReplyDeleteHowever I think until a thorough investigation into the companies who were accused of greenwashing we should not be so quick to point fingers because as they said the claims by TerraChoice were not 100% certain