Greenwash

One of the ways PR experts enhance the image of their clients and show that they care is by emphasising their positive actions, no matter how trivial, and downplaying any negative aspects, no matter how significant. According to Robert Gray, former chairman of Hill and Knowlton Worldwide, "our job is not to make white black or to cover the truth, but to tell the positive side regardless of who the client is." (quoted in Roschwalb 1994, p. 270) Sometimes this involves putting a positive spin or interpretation on the available information:

Did this year's fines levied by the Environmental Protection Agency (or the state equivalent) drop to 'only' $5 million? Then celebrate the company's 'continued positive trend in compliance.' Was there no improvement from last year's release of toxic chemicals? Then report on the 'levelling off of emissions.' (Makower 1996)

One public relations expert advised companies in Public Relations Journal: "To report bad news, state the problem, then focus on the actions you are taking to reduce the risk and improve the situation." She also advised that it is important to get in first, "in hostile situations" in order to "shape the message" (Arnstein 1994, p. 29). For example, one firm that was required by Californian regulations to disclose their emissions and their health effects (including cancer risks) sent a letter to local residents in advance.

By getting their letter to residents prior to the agency letter [containing their emissions details], the company was able to take control of the message and reinforce its proactive stance...Opening a dialogue with the neighbourhood gave the manufacturer a forum to communicate the positive elements of the plant. (Arnstein 1994, p. 29)

Some companies make the most out of measures they have been forced to take by the government, making it seem that they have undertaken the improvements because they care about the environment. Companies that have poor environmental records can also improve their image and increase their sales merely by using recycled paper in their products or making similar token adjustments. Peter Dykstra, media director of Greenpeace, USA, says, "They depict 5 percent of environmental virtue to mask the 95 percent of environmental vice". (quoted in Beers and Capellaro 1991)

Jolyon Jenkins, in the New Statesman and Society (1990), claimed that BP, a company responsible for the clearing of large areas of rainforest in Brazil, responded to the rise in environmental consciousness in the late 1980s with "a £20 million 're-imaging campaign' in which it daubed all its property in green paint, and advertised its annual report under the slogan 'Now We're Greener Than Ever'." Greenpeace campaigners Dadd and Carothers (1990) claim that Chevron, a multinational oil company, spends about five times as much publicising its environmental actions as it does on the actions themselves.

The nuclear industry has stressed its lack of air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions as an environmental benefit while not discussing the environmental and health problems surrounding extraction of uranium, nuclear accidents or disposal of nuclear wastes. Hill and Knowlton has helped the nuclear industry to come up with statements such as "Nuclear protects the public against an unacceptable level of peril from air pollution." The American Nuclear Society's publicity director argued that the nuclear industry needed to "paint itself green" and try to be identified with the environmental movement. The Canadian Nuclear Association also launched a three year, $6 million campaign in the late 1980s portraying nuclear energy as 'clean' and 'safe' and the solution to global warming and acid rain problems. (Anon. 1994b; Lanouette 1991; Nelson 1989, p. 138)

Earth Day each year provides another opportunity for firms to get environmental credentials, deserved or otherwise. One US PR consultant observed: "There's a virtual feeding frenzy among corporations about what roles they will play on Earth Day." On the same topic the public affairs director for the Monsanto Chemical Company has said: "There's a mad scramble for many companies to project an 'I am greener than thou' attitude." The Chemical Manufacturers Association encourages its members to get involved and public relations firms help their clients to "shape and publicise their pro-environment messages." (Shell 1990, p. 9)

Corporate funding and sponsorship has turned Earth Day into a multimillion dollar event that is marketed with slick glossy brochures and Earth Day merchandise. It provides corporations with a means to green their image and, according to Public Relations Journal, play "a key role in defining the future direction of the environmental movement." (Shell 1990, p. 16) Associated events such as fairs, where firms can showcase their 'green' credentials and Clean Up campaigns are common in the mid-nineties. These clean-ups "offer a chance to 'bond' with the community over an environmental cause and to foster 'camaraderie among employees' who are often compensated for their time." (Whitehead 1995)

The attempt to provide a 'green' and caring persona for a corporation is a public relations strategy aimed at promising reform and heading off demands for more substantial and fundamental changes (Nelson 1989, p. 131). A PR expert advised in Public Relations Journal:

There really are no solid solutions to many environmental problems other than ceasing to partake in the activity that causes the environmental hazard. Therefore, the key to devising successful solution ideas, is to show that your client cares about the environmental issue at hand. (Kwittken 1994, p. 27)

The Council on Economic Priorities has studied the environmental claims of a large number of corporations and found that "many of them are using ÔgreenÕ public relations programs as a pro-environmental smokescreen while they continue to pollute." Examples they gave in 1992 included Dow Chemical, which "received favorable publicity for a $3 million wetlands protection program, while downstream from its factories birds were turning up with dioxin-related deformities" and Mobil, which claimed "so-called biodegradable plastic bags would not disintegrate in landfills and that their use should not be encouraged. Then they went ahead and introduced biodegradable plastics with an enormous advertising campaign." (Anon. 1992, p. 3)

3M is perhaps one of the most successful companies when it comes to attaining a green image. Although it is the 13th worst US corporation when it comes to emissions of toxic chemicals into the environment, the name 3M is almost synonymous with the idea of pollution prevention through its much publicised 3P (Pollution Prevention Pays) scheme. Indeed 3M's 3P program, implemented in the 1970s by two engineers and an 'environmental communications specialist,' has saved $500 million for a very small monetary expenditure, earned a Silver Anvil Award from the Public Relations Society of America, brought much welcome media publicity and helped "soften regulatory attitudes toward the industry" (Ludford 1991).

Corporate philanthropy is another means of showing that a company cares. For example the Puget Sound Bank found that it increased its number of customers by setting up the Puget Sound Fund. The name of the fund was chosen purposely to "cement the identification" between the bank and the environmental fund. Each time a customer made a transaction at one of their automatic teller machines the bank would donate a small amount of money to the Fund which would be used to give grants to environmental groups. Cheques were produced with scenes of Puget Sound on them. The aim was to make supporting the bank seem to the public to be supporting an environmental cause (Asher 1991).

The strategy worked better than the bank had hoped. Between 1988 and 1990 cash withdrawals through the machines increased 56% and the bank retained its market share despite increased competition. The fund raised $30,000 in 1990 which was dispersed to 32 environmental groups. It was far cheaper than an advertising campaign and attracted favourable media coverage worth more than could have been bought with conventional publicity. "It's free advertising and of the best type. That's press you can't buy!" The bank's marketing director pointed out that "banking is a business in which the perception is often the reality" (Asher 1991).

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Anon., (1992) 'Research Group says some Green Marketers are only Pretending', Marketing News, vol. 26, no. 2: 3.

Anon., (1994) 'Flack Attack, Part II', Environmental Action, Summer: 9.

Arnstein, Caren, (1994) 'How companies can rebuild credibility and public trust', Public Relations Journal, April: 28-29.

Asher, Joseph, (1991) 'When a good cause is also good business', Bank Marketing, vol. 23, no. 6: 30-32.

Beers, David, and Catherine Capellaro, (1991) 'Greenwash!', Mother Jones, March/April: 88.

Dadd, Debra Lynn, and Andre Carothers, (1990) 'A bill of goods?', Greenpeace, vol. 15, no. 3: 8-12.

Jenkins, Jolyon, (1990) 'Who's the Greenest?', New Statesman & Society, 17 August: 18-20.

Kwittken, Aaron Renner, (1994) 'Planning proactive corporate environmental communications', Public Relations Journal, April: 27.

Lanouette, William, (1991) 'Painting themselves green', The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists : 4.

Ludford, Lowell F., (1991) '3P program pays off in costs savings of $500 million for 3M', Public Relations Journal, vol. 47, no. 4: 20-21.

Makower, Joel, (1996) 'Just the facts', E: the Environmental Magazine, vol. 7, no. 2: 48, 50.

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

Roschwalb, Susanne A., (1994) 'The Hill & Knowlton Cases: A brief on the controversy', Public Relations Review, vol. 20, no. 3: 267-276.

Shell, Adam, (1990) 'Earth Day spawns corporate "feeding frenzy"', Public Relations Journal, Jan/Feb: 9, 16-17.

Whitehead, Wendy R., (1995) '25th Earth Day will be a local affair', Environment Today, vol. 6, no. 2: 3, 11.

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