Zeno Group Blog

I had the pleasure of attending the Opportunity Green eco-friendly business conference at UCLA over the weekend and was fortunate enough to hear a number of speakers whom I greatly respect and admire talking about some really interesting topics surrounding green business.

During a panel called “What’s Hot, What’s Not, What’s Next: The Latest Trends in Sustainability,” a lively debate arose about “greenwashing,” which is when companies mislead consumers about their environmental practices. Zem Joaquin, founder/editor-in-chief of Ecofabulous, echoed what I thought were my own feelings, that greenwashing is unequivocally a bad thing and that we should blow the whistle on companies engaging in this practice and encourage true change.

Tom Szaky, CEO of Terracycle, offered an interesting opposing view. Basically, he raised the point that some change is better than no change, and if we come down hard on a company for talking about the small steps they are taking because they are an environment offender on larger fronts, it will discourage companies from making changes, talking about their efforts and influencing other companies to make changes. He cited the example of the ubiquitous 99 cent shopping bags at every checkout counter around the country. The bags actually use 50 times more energy to make than plastic bags! But, there is no arguing that they have shifted consumer consciousness and inspired many consumers to start thinking about and using reusable bags. Being that this is the change we want to see, is it worth the environmental infraction – and not condemning companies who sell the bags – for the movement it has created?

As PR professionals, we are in the unique position of helping to shape companies’ messages as well as having a dialog with the media about what and how they cover issues. On our end, this example helps to illustrate the importance of really thinking through what we counsel our clients to say publicly and how they say it, as well as considering all the possible reactions – especially the negative ones – and developing thoughtful responses that may tell a story that the media or consumers hadn’t thought of initially.