Greenwash

Greenwash is a response to:

Negative image of industry
Increasing public disclosure of business activity
Increasing public environmental concern

Bruce Harrison (1991), who runs a firm specialising in environmental PR, suggests three reasons for the rise of environmental PR. Firstly he says that "negative images of industrial accidents and environmental disasters coupled with the media;s bias toward green advocacy are shaping public perceptions." Secondly, information about companies, including emissions data, that used to be kept secret, is now legally required to be made public which can damage a corporation's reputation. Thirdly, polls show that three quarters of the population in the US consider themselves environmentalists and most of these self-proclaimed environmentalists are not prepared to trust business to protect the environment.

PR professionals are being used to counter these negative perceptions of business, caused in most cases by their poor environmental performance. Rather than substantially change business practices so as to earn a better reputation many firms are turning to PR professionals to create one for them. After all "it is easier and less costly to change the way people think about reality than it is to change reality." (Nelson 1989, p. 17)

Good PR can forestall the demand for tough regulation of corporations. An internal General Motors document stated that "GM Public Relations helps to make GM so well accepted by its various publics that it may pursue its corporate mission unencumbered by public-imposed limitations or regulations." Similarly Jeff and Marie Blyskal point out in their 1985 book on PR that, "because of good image PR, a new DuPont chemical plant would probably be welcomed into a community more warmly than, say, a new plant for Hooker Chemical, whose dark Love Canal reputation precedes it."

Whereas, in the past public relations used to be mainly about publicity, about a third of environmental public relations is nowadays about strategic counselling—shaping public and government perceptions of environmental problems and finding ways to counter environmentalists and environmental regulations. These days public relations firms perform such diverse tasks as forming grassroots organisations for their clients (see front groups) and gathering information on activists and journalists.

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Blyskal, Jeff and Marie Blyskal, (1985) PR: How the Public Relations Industry Writes the News, New York: William Morrow and Co.

Harrison, Bruce, (1991) 'Plowing new ground in environmental affairs', Public Relations Journal, April: 32-3.

Nelson, Joyce, (1989) Sultans of Sleeze: Public Relations and the Media, Toronto: Between the Lines.

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.