Greenwash

Environmental public relations, or 'greenwash' as environmentalists call it, dates back to the 1960s. When Rachel Carson's Silent Spring was published in 1962, Monsanto responded by distributing its own publication The Desolate Year, which was a parody of Carson's book, to assorted media outlets. Velsicol Chemical Company, manufacturer of DDT, sued Carson's publisher and Bruce Harrison, now owner of a major environmental PR firm with clients such as Monsanto and Dow Chemicals, helped distribute thousands of damning book reviews on behalf of the Agricultural Chemical Association.

By 1990 US firms were spending about $500 million a year on public relations advice on how to green their own image and deal with environmental opposition. By 1995 that figure had doubled to about $1 billion per year on environmental public relations activities. There are now at least 42 firms in the US specialising in environmental PR. The top fifteen environmental PR firms collected about $90 million in fees in 1993 for their environmental work. The top seven firms providing environmental PR are shown below:

Source: Bleiffus 1995, p. 4

A survey conducted in 1993 by the Opinion Research Corporation, which asked US executives what the key public relations challenges for 1994 would be, found that 23% of the 248 respondents named environmental issues (more than any other topic) compared with 21% who named promoting company image.

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Anon., 'Environmental issues, corporate image top business concerns for "94"', Public Relations Journal, October 1993: 28.

Bleifuss, Joel, (1995) 'Covering the Earth with "Green PR"', PR Watch, vol. 2, no. 1: 1-7.

Ridgeway, James, (1995) 'Greenwashing Earth Day', Village Voice, 25 April, 15-6.

Stauber, John and Sheldon Rampton (1995), Toxic Sludge is Good For You! Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry, Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press.