Green Washing

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description

This project was designed in the Fall of 2009 for Design Research Methods.

Transcript of Green Washing

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Table of Contents

Introduction - - - - - - - 4

Background - - - - - - - 6

Abstract - - - - - - - - 12

Secondary Research - - - 15

Primary Reserach - - - 21

Conclusion - - - - - - - 32

Works Cited - - - - - - 34

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INTRODUCTIO

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The topic of this research paper was a result of the budding eco-design movement, dialogue of ‘green washing’ in marketing, and what exactly is the right thing for consumers to buy. It was a challenge to investigate the buying behavior of an average consumer. The original question that was to be answered was, ““How much does green branding effect purchases by consumers?” This question was originally too broad to research and come to a conclusion. The topic was remodeled to allow for concrete observations to be made in order to discover a solid answer.. “Are green branding strategies effective in shifting consumer perceptions and/or buying habits?” The purposed of conducting this reserach is to investigate and understand this question. Through research of consumer buying trends, contextual inquiries and on-site observations. A lot of what was discovered showed insight to people’s true motivations for buying products. At the same time knowledge of price point and the importance of the environment in the minds of the general public. All in all what consumers purchase has many determining factors including trends, convenience, attractiveness and price. All of whcih are addressed in this paper.

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BACKGROUND

The attributes of a product being

considered green is an definition that is

very gray. There are many interpretations

and associations of what truly counts as

a green product. In an explanation of the

product itself being green, one considers the

manufacturing process, biodegradability,

and its impact to the environment upon

use and disposal and packaging. The

manufacturing process includes observing

what materials are used, how far away

the materials are located and how far

they had to travel, and how efficient the

manufacturing is. A green product would

use local materials and or biodegradable

materials based off the product itself. The

further each material travels, adds to its

overall life cycle analysis and contributes to

its carbon footprint. The use of the product

also must not emit anything harmful into

the environment or hurt the environment in

any way. Also, a product is not considered

green if the product manufactured only

to be used for a short period of time and

then disposed of. It must be able to return

pack to the earth or recycled in order to

prevent it ending up in a landfill. This also

applies to the packaging of the product.

If a product is over packaged with a lot

of excess material that is thrown directly

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BACKGROUND

into the garbage, this ends up hurting the

environment because of its wastefulness

of resources. Also a green product might

just be colored green to show freshness or

a specific sent or actual color. A lot of the

package design that was uncovered during

the research had a common look.

Note that these are restrictions for

a product to be completely green. This

however, is almost never the case when

looking most of the products that are

considered green in the market. Consumers,

researchers and environmentalists

understand that all products cannot be

one hundred percent green. It is close to

impossible, but as long as it is not completely

unaware of its impact to the environment,

then it is a step in the right direction.

Another aspect of a green product is if

the company or corporation itself practices

eco-friendliness and sustainability.

There are many firms around the

world that may consider their products to be

green because of their longevity, quality, or

biodegradability, but if the infrastructure of

the business is unsustainable and hurtful to

the environment then all that is considered

void. As stated in the green product

overview, a company’s manufacturing

process is important to the greenness of

their products. There is a growing number

of large corporations in America that

have recently made movement towards a

greener business model. Recently Bank of

America implemented a internal recycling

program that saves the equivalent of more

than 200,000 trees a year, it also offers

employees who buy hybrid cars a $3,000

cash-back incentive. DuPont recently hired

a former head of Greenpeace as a consultant

who aided in reducing emissions of both

greenhouse gases and airborne carcinogens

in their manufacturing process. General

Electric and its Ecomagination product

line, such as solar panels, had sales topping

$12 billion in 2006, and has finally began

cleanup of its PCB dump in the Hudson

River. Coffee giant, Starbucks, has released

information on its “bean-to-cup” approach

that creates eco-accountability at every

stage of its supply chain, with recycled-

paper sleeves alone saving the equivalent of

78,000 trees in 2006. The organic foods

giant Whole Foods was the first major U.S.

corporation to purchase enough wind-

energy credits to offset 100 percent of its

electricity use. The former bane of the green

movement, Wal-Mart, now has one of the

most ambitious environmental plans of any

U.S. company, a proposal to power every

store with 100 percent renewable energy.

(portfolio) Other notable corporations are

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BACKGROUND

Hewlet-Packard, Dell, Johnson and Johnson,

Intel, and IBM. (newsweek) Most of these

corporations will be discussed more in

depth in the secondary research section of

the report.

One final aspect of the green

consumer goods movement is its deviation

from organic products. The difference is

simple, organic defines the way the product

is grown and processed while green refers

only to the impact of something to the

planet. The USDA has specific standards

that a product must meet in order to be

classified as “organic”. The USDA has also

set up levels of organic that determines the

way an item is labeled. Recycling, using

recycled products, conserving energy,

and conserving water are all ways to

practice a green lifestyle. None of those are

necessarily “organic”. So while using organic

products is considered a “green” thing to do;

using green products doesn’t automatically

mean that you are using organic products.

(associatedcontent)

On top of all aspects of green

products discussed, the marketing and

advertising of these products has recently

come under fire with the emergence

of ‘green washing’. Green washing is

essentially when a company who is not

necessarily providing a green product or

practicing renewability advertises itself

as such. An example of this is a company

that designs its packaging with green

grass, sunny weather, and other symbols

associated with the planet, when in reality

their practices are hurting the environment.

In the year 2000, BP, the second largest oil

companies in the world spent $200 million

on rebranding their company changing

their logo to a green and yellow sunburst

design. BP also financed a large advertising

campaign giving BP a greener appearance

to the public, which overpowered the

voice of activists. BP even changed

their slogan to “Beyond Petroleum” to

further their greenwashing campaign.

(Thegreenlifeonline) The company though

made little strides towards lessening their

environmental impact.

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BACKGROUND

The Federal Trade Commission has

guidelines on how companies may create

advertisements, campaigns, and write copy

in regards to the environment. It also states

the right to prosecute false and misleading

advertisement claims. The problem with

these guidelines is that they were not

created to be used as an enforceable

guideline but instead were intended to be

followed voluntarily. (greencleancertified)

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ABST

RACT

The transition of our research question from “How much does green branding effect purchases by consumers?” to “Are green branding strategies effective in shifting consumer perceptions and/or buying habits?” came naturally to the groups after having done thorough research concerning green advertisement. This new environmentalism of reducing material usage, improving workers welfare, as well as companies procedures helps increase profit by becoming more efficient creating new market and often attracting new investors. Nowadays, consumers’ concern and awareness on the environment’s dreadful conditions has encouraged changes on the public and individual behavior. This has led most companies to use greenwashing in order to mislead consumers and generate their sales. When going green a company is conscious that by adding this broad, but of high importance word, “Green”, will allow

them to change consumer’s behavior towards the “environmentally sustainable” products they are promoting.“Greenwashing” is the act of misleading the public regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product, service, or business line. Due to the public’s increased awareness of environmental issues, including global warming, deforestation, and the loss of endangered species, greenwashing has become a staple of corporations marketing efforts [1[. However, the “green” movement of US companies has a certain twist to it. The firms that spend the most money on public relation trying to show that they are making a difference in the environment are those who pollute the most. The paradox is that the majority of these companies are aware of the damage they are causing and decide to give generous donations to environmental non-profit organization in order to look

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ABST

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good in the eyes of the public. In early 2005 GE announced its $90 million “Ecomagination” advertising campaign. According to the company’s CEO, “Ecomagination is GE’s commitment to address challenges such as the need for cleaner, more efficient sources of energy, reduced emissions and abundant sources of clean water.” The company said that revenue from 70 Ecomagination products and services would be $17 billion in 2008. Since its inception, Ecomagination has provided GE with countless opportunities to reflect its corporate concern over the environment. Arguably the whole effort is greenwashing [1[. It’s ironic how these companies are willing to spend millions of dollars on ad campaigns trying to fool the public into believing they are well intentioned and making a change when they can spend it on actual investments that would result in concrete outcomes. “Money is the language of business. Translating environmental and social issues into financial terms is a vital element in motivating business to take action.” said Jan-olaf wilum, senior vice president of Storebrand, Norway. It is only in recent years that more businesses are buying environmentally friendly technology as company’s start adopting what is known as the “triple bottom line” (TBL) measuring not only how the company is doing financially, but also regularly reporting the company’s impact on the environment and society. Looking carefully at the long term profits, brand value, and sustainability of some of the largest corporations in the

world, environmentally proactive such as Prius, Tasla, Poland spring, Fiji, Edison and compact fluorescent, will show the links between non financial and financial incentives (business ethics and company reputation) and the strategies implemented. This new environmentalism of reducing material wastage and operating costs, as well as improving workers welfare and companies procedures, helps companies increase their profits by becoming more efficient, creating new markets and often attracting new investors. After pitching our approach to the class as well as the professor, most of our questions were related to information that the companies were unwilling to share, which led us to develop threw constructive feedback, a new research topic. “Are green branding strategies effective in shifting consumer perceptions and/or buying habits?” This new topic research will lead us to understand the psychology behind the different motivation and influences that generate the consumer’s behavioral change. More importantly, our new research topic examines the symbolic and conceptual purposes a good or service creates in addition to its basic function. Threw a contextual inquiry process we will be able to identify the social and psychological impact on both mainstream and pro-environmental consumer behavior.

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“Today it suffices to just slap some green paint on a product to call it green ”Bernard Caron, director of marketing for the Belgian company Ecover, told AFP. Often companies make environmental claims without providing any publicly available proof, which makes navigating the growing assortment of “green” options tricky, said Scott Case, vice president of Terra Choice. It is obvious that by adding “green” claims and eco-labels to your marketing strategy you may enhance your brand image and secure your market share among the growing number of environmentally concerned consumers. But experts say every single purchase has hidden environmental costs, whether it be in the ingredients, manufacturing, or disposal of the product. Moreover, around the world, there are few legal requirements companies must adhere to when marketing products as green or sustainable. As increasingly eco-conscious

consumers are faced with more and more choices, experts warn that marketing strategies dubbed “greenwashing” could be leading them astray. “I can give you a ton of words that mean absolutely, positively nothing, The word natural. The word earth-friendly. It means nothing since it’s not legally defined. Biodegradable, except in California, doesn’t actually carry any weight of law” said Daniel Velez, owner of Greater Goods. Some time in the last year, environmentalism became the new plastics, and--bam--the corporate world is on a stunning green tear. But what’s a fad and what’s real? According to the US chamber of commerce the momentum for the recent green movement came from the theory that human-generated release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere was contributing to a warming of the planet. These concerns caused some governments,

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businesses, and individuals to reexamine their own roles in the release of carbon dioxide and to attempt to reduce their output. However, these groups seem to have shifted from the notion of human-generated release of carbon dioxide to the mantra “reduce, reuse, recycle”, which examines efforts to conserve our natural resources, reduce our contributions to landfills, and reduce pollution generally. On one hand, companies that have the capital to invest in advertisements to change their brand image and gain market share have done just that by “riding the green wave”, on the other hand small business have been slow to embrace the green movement for one specific reason: its expensive with little benefits in the short run other than the satisfaction of feeling that you were doing your part to help. That psychic satisfaction has value,

of course, but rarely did it outweigh the significant costs typically associated with going green. What is shocking, is that saving our planet has turned into a “good feeling of oneself” instead of a necessity. Nonetheless there is still hope out there, for example in 2008 The New York Times ran a story about a guy who installed two small wind turbines on his roof to supply some of his power needs. The turbines costs $10,000 each, and the owner admitted that he wouldn’t recoup his costs for many years, if ever, but that he didn’t care. Few small business owners are willing to spend significant sums of money without any prospect of recovering the costs. In addition, you could argue that using the term “going green” to describe these initiatives has served as an impediment to their adoption because

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of the political antagonisms that have existed between environmentalists and the business community. It is, in a sense, a public relations problem. Perhaps the business community would have been more likely to adopt green technologies had the movement been known as “becoming more energy-efficient” rather than “going green.” On the brighter side of things, the times, as they say, are a-changing. With the initiatives governments have taken in the Copenhagen summit things seem to be headed the right direction. Moreover, as environmental concerns have increased and as the costs of green technologies have come down, more and more businesses owners--both large and small--have begun adopting green technologies. All the signs point to those numbers continuing to go up in the coming years. [3[ It might come as shocking to say that companies such as Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola, and Chevron are leading the way in this resurgence of being environmentally friendly but the following examples will demonstrate the positive changes they’ve made. It is obvious that a business can save money by finding ways to spend less while maintaining sales. By simply changing the way it managed its enormous truck fleet Wal-Mart was able to save $26 million per year and eliminated the carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to taking 18,300 passenger vehicles off the road. They simply installed small auxiliary power

units Instead of running a truck’s engine all night to heat or cool the cab during mandatory 10-hour rest stops. In addition Wal-Mart is lowering costs associated with packaging materials. Wal-Mart now sells only concentrated liquid laundry detergents in North America, which has reduced the size of packaging by up to 50 percent. They are trying to eventually end up with no packaging waste by investing in machines called called bailers that recycle plastics that once would have been discarded. And finally, another Wal-Mart example shows how a company can save money in the long run by buying from a sustainable managed source. Because most wild fisheries are managed unsustainably, prices for Chilean sea bass and Atlantic tuna have been soaring. In 2006 Wal-Mart decided to switch, within five years, all its purchases of wild-caught seafood to fisheries certified as sustainable. Coca-Cola on the other hand, has different problems in that they are largely long-term goals. Their main issue is water. They produce their beverage in over 200 countries that require a reliable local supply of clean fresh water. But water supplies are under severe pressure around the world, with most already allocated for human use. The little remaining unallocated fresh water is in remote areas unsuitable for beverage factories, like Arctic Russia and northwestern Australia. It can’t meet its water needs by using other methods, such as desalinizing

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seawater since that requires expensive energy. Most competing water use around the world is for agriculture, which presents sustainability problems of its own. “Hence Coca-Cola’s survival compels it to be deeply concerned with problems of water scarcity, energy, climate change and agriculture. One company goal is to make its plants water-neutral, returning to the environment water in quantities equal to the amount used in beverages and their production. Another goal is to work on the conservation of seven of the world’s river basins, including the Rio Grande, Yangtze, Mekong and Danube -- all of them sites of major environmental concerns besides supplying water for Coca-Cola.

These long-term goals are in addition to Coca-Cola’s short-term cost-saving environmental practices, like recycling plastic bottles, replacing petroleum-based plastic in bottles with organic material, reducing energy consumption and increasing sales volume while decreasing water use” [4[. Chevron’s reason for being more sustainable and environmentally friendly

is purely business oriented. They have a lot to gain from adapting environmentally friendly business practices, which is evidence that if the real incentive, money, is achievable company will keep the planet healthy. When asked how a publicly traded company could justify to its shareholders its expenditures on the environment, Chevron employees and executives gave five reasons. “First, oil spills can be horribly expensive: it is far cheaper to prevent them than to clean them up. Second, clean practices reduce the risk that New Guinean landowners become angry, sue for damages and close the fields. (The company has been sued for problems in Ecuador that Chevron inherited when it merged with Texaco in 2001.) Next, environmental standards are becoming stricter around the world, so building clean facilities now minimizes having to do expensive retrofitting later. Also, clean operations in one country give a company an advantage in bidding on leases in other countries. Finally, environmental practices of which employees are proud improve morale, help with recruitment and increase the length of time employees are likely to remain at the company” [4[. Despite the fact that the government could offer tax incentives, pass a cap-and-trade legislation, and enforce tougher standards on green advertising as well as ensure that companies with cheap,

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dirty standards don’t have a competitive advantage over those businesses protecting the environment, American businesses are going to play as much or more of a role in our progress as the government. And this isn’t a bad thing, as corporations know they have a lot to gain by establishing environmentally friendly business practices.

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After conducting secondary research, our main focus was to construct a survey, a “set of questions that create a structured way of asking a large group of people to describe themselves, their interests, and their preferences”. Each question was intentionally based on a rigorous and systematic design and execution in order to generate the Reponses we were aiming for. They were built through a thorough planning, a well-considered development, and an effective piloting. Once the overall goals for the survey were enumerated and analyzed based on previous primary and secondary research, we have written a good number of questions that were divided into characteristics categories, behavioral categories and attitudinal categories. Each question contained one of the concepts we were trying to investigate. Moreover, the questions

order were done as if it was a dialogue that’s electively revealed information on the person answering the question. In some way this survey is like a story of a consumer’s journey. The essential concepts we focused on while constructing the survey were the two most influential characteristics of a consumer behavior culture, which refers to a set of basic value perception, wants and behaviors learned by a member of society from family or other institution; and the social class of each individual, measured by occupation, income and education. Money is one of the most crucial and critical characteristics that affect the consumer’s buyer behavior in the sustainable market. Often his underlying motive is different from his stated motive. The price of an object influences the consumer mind to actually purchase the good. Moreover the economic situation

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of a consumer affects his lifestyle and limits his spending and choice. The way an individual perceives an external stimulus will influence his/her reactions. Advertisers use this sensibility when branding a product. Their most effective tool is the use of eye-catching colors. Color can influence our emotions, our actions and how we respond to various people, things and ideas. Much has been studied and written about color and its impact on our daily lives. In our case it is the very well known green color. It symbolizes life, nature, environment, youth, money, renewal, hope, and power. It is a color that soothes people, reduces pain, and makes us feel safe. Associated with ecological values and with the environment, green is the color of healing. In advertizing, color is the most important element, its use is more important than the actual wording of the ad. The reason for this is that colors (and graphics) capture the consumer’s attention that causes them to read the ad. Nowadays, people associate the color green with the “green movement”. Therefore, a company relies on the role of emotions that will influence the consumer’s behavior to stimulate potential customers to make a purchase and increase their awareness in the marketplace. The color green on packages creates a feeling of consciousness and well being.

The ordering and information provided by the questions of the final exemplary of the survey shown below were all thought through very carefully. Each part give out additional and crucial insight of a consumer’s behavior.

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Peter LesserAge: 26Hometown: Concord, MAOccupation: Free lance designerCurrently lives in: LESOpinion on green products: Price is the most important element of his purchase.

Nancy BrownAge: 23Hometown: Springfield, ILOccupation: Sales personCurrently lives in: WilliamsburgOpinion on green products: Really worried about the over consumption by today’s youth but is a shopaholic herself.

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George Costanza Age: 41Hometown: Washington, DCOccupation: Engineer Currently lives in: Albany Opinion on green products: Pretends to be fascinated by green products but isn’t really. Also is forced to be vegetarian by his wife

Cristi GerlachAge: 24Hometown: Augusta, MEOccupation: WriterCurrently lives in: NJOpinion on green products: Believes she is a true environmentalist, and does everything she can to help make our planet a healthier place. Vegan

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“Going green”, is a social movement concerning the improvements of the state of the environment. The ecological concept and ideas behind that movement were adopted almost everywhere. Most importantly, it generated changes on the society’s individual behavior by promoting sustainable management of resources and the protection of the natural environment. By taking into consideration that even us as consumers, have shifted our behavior towards sustainable product with completely different motive behind our purchases, noting that we don’t consider ourselves being environmentalist. We were curious to find out the reasons behind the consumer’s purchases of sustainable or non eco-friendly goods. Therefore, we pursued our eagerness to find out more on that subject by having a long discussion on the consumer’s behavior, and getting secondary research. We then decided to take matters into our own hands and ask through small and quick surveys with a range of 1 to 5 questions, the thoughts that runs into his/her mind before purchasing any good and the things that influenced his/her decisions. This pre-research survey allowed us to narrow down the things that cause the consumesr to choose many of his/her goods, into the three most influential effects: income, lifestyle and branding.

After interpreting the result of the first survey and integrating it into chart to a better visualization of what is actually happening, we were then able to see how many consumers purchased sustainable goods and what are the different motives behind it.

Those responses helped us determine the concepts that we were going to investigate with more research and when constructing the final survey.

 

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The first part of the survey shows all the “characteristic category” of a consumer, which includes the demographic questions: Name, age, Sex, Email, Address, income? . Such personal information allowed us to show the accuracy of our data but most importantly it helped us place each person in a specific demographic profile. The demographic profile provides enough information about a typical member of this group to create a mental picture of his hypothetical aggregate and lifestyle. The next four questions of the survey, how would you define “Green”? Which product would you consider green? Why? On a scale from 1 to 5, rank each product on how green they are? Are considered under a knowledge category through which we are able to measure the expertise, and skills acquired by the consumer through experience or education; and his understanding and awareness on this subject. The last questions of the survey, which would you choose If money was not an issue? Why? Which product is your eye drawn to first? Why? How would you define going green? Combine the concepts we are trying to investigate. Referring to the attitudinal category of the survey, this section will allow us to conduct and interpret carefully our data, which Reveals the characteristics of the consumers behavior when faced satisfaction, preferences, desires of a consumer, in addition to the limits and influence that the consumer encounters.

Name ____________ Age: under 21 21 - 24 25 - 40 41 - 54 55+

Sex: MALE FEMALE City, State: __________________________

Occupation: ________________Email: _____________________

Income: under$15,000 $15,000-$24,999 $25,000-$44,999

How would you define “Green”?

$45,000-$74,999 $75.000-$99,999 $100,000+

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Green Washing StudyDESIGN RESEARCH METHODS

Which products would you consider “green” (Circle One)

Why?______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Seventh Generation Simple Green Green Works

Colgate Herbal Tom’s Natural Desert Essence

Why?______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Green Works Gain Fresh Awakenings

Green Mountain

If you had to buy one of these products without knowing the price, which one would you choose? (Circle One)

50 fl. oz.32 loads

45 fl. oz.30 loads

32 fl. oz.32 loads

Green Works

Gain Fresh Awakenings

Green Mountain

On a scale from 1 to 5, rank each product on how green they are

1 2 3 4 5 I Don’t Know

1 2 3 4 5 I Don’t Know

1 2 3 4 5 I Don’t Know

Not GrEEN GrEENESt PoSSibLE

Why?______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Green Works Gain Fresh Awakenings

Green Mountain

Knowing the price, which one would you choose? (Circle One)

$10.99

$10.69

Green Works Gain Fresh Awakenings

Green Mountain

Which would you choose if money was not an issue? (Circle One)

$11.99

Why?______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Why?______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Which product is your eye drawn to first? (Circle One)

How would you define “Going Green”?

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME!Printed on 100% Recycled Paper

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Name ____________ Age: under 21 21 - 24 25 - 40 41 - 54 55+

Sex: MALE FEMALE City, State: __________________________

Occupation: ________________Email: _____________________

Income: under$15,000 $15,000-$24,999 $25,000-$44,999

How would you define “Green”?

$45,000-$74,999 $75.000-$99,999 $100,000+

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Green Washing StudyDESIGN RESEARCH METHODS

Which products would you consider “green” (Circle One)

Why?______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Seventh Generation Simple Green Green Works

Colgate Herbal Tom’s Natural Desert Essence

TOP 5 ANSWERS1) environmentally friendly, sustainable2) a lifestyle promoting the preservation of the earth natural ressources3) the new trend in production consumption behavior4) anything that is made to last’5) eco conscient product

TOP 5 ANSWERS1) color of packaging2) it says natural3) there are plants on it4) herbal comes from the Earth5) looks clean

Name ____________ Age: under 21 21 - 24 25 - 40 41 - 54 55+

Sex: MALE FEMALE City, State: __________________________

Occupation: ________________Email: _____________________

Income: under$15,000 $15,000-$24,999 $25,000-$44,999

How would you define “Green”?

$45,000-$74,999 $75.000-$99,999 $100,000+

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Green Washing StudyDESIGN RESEARCH METHODS

Which products would you consider “green” (Circle One)

Why?______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Seventh Generation Simple Green Green Works

Colgate Herbal Tom’s Natural Desert Essence

14% 20% 1%

Name ____________ Age: under 21 21 - 24 25 - 40 41 - 54 55+

Sex: MALE FEMALE City, State: __________________________

Occupation: ________________Email: _____________________

Income: under$15,000 $15,000-$24,999 $25,000-$44,999

How would you define “Green”?

$45,000-$74,999 $75.000-$99,999 $100,000+

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Green Washing StudyDESIGN RESEARCH METHODS

Which products would you consider “green” (Circle One)

Why?______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Seventh Generation Simple Green Green Works

Colgate Herbal Tom’s Natural Desert Essence

15% 40% 10%

Name ____________ Age: under 21 21 - 24 25 - 40 41 - 54 55+

Sex: MALE FEMALE City, State: __________________________

Occupation: ________________Email: _____________________

Income: under$15,000 $15,000-$24,999 $25,000-$44,999

How would you define “Green”?

$45,000-$74,999 $75.000-$99,999 $100,000+

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Green Washing StudyDESIGN RESEARCH METHODS

Which products would you consider “green” (Circle One)

Why?______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Seventh Generation Simple Green Green Works

Colgate Herbal Tom’s Natural Desert Essence

THE RESULTS:

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Why?______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Green Works Gain Fresh Awakenings

Green Mountain

If you had to buy one of these products without knowing the price, which one would you choose? (Circle One)

50 fl. oz.32 loads

45 fl. oz.30 loads

32 fl. oz.32 loads

Green Works

Gain Fresh Awakenings

Green Mountain

On a scale from 1 to 5, rank each product on how green they are

1 2 3 4 5 I Don’t Know

1 2 3 4 5 I Don’t Know

1 2 3 4 5 I Don’t Know

Not GrEEN GrEENESt PoSSibLE

AVERAGE:3.5

Don’t Know - 2%

AVERAGE:3.5

Don’t Know - 2%

AVERAGE:2.5

Don’t Know - 2%

Why?______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Green Works Gain Fresh Awakenings

Green Mountain

If you had to buy one of these products without knowing the price, which one would you choose? (Circle One)

50 fl. oz.32 loads

45 fl. oz.30 loads

32 fl. oz.32 loads

Green Works

Gain Fresh Awakenings

Green Mountain

On a scale from 1 to 5, rank each product on how green they are

1 2 3 4 5 I Don’t Know

1 2 3 4 5 I Don’t Know

1 2 3 4 5 I Don’t Know

Not GrEEN GrEENESt PoSSibLE

40%

“Looks ecofriendly”“Packaging”

“Know the Brand”

Name ____________ Age: under 21 21 - 24 25 - 40 41 - 54 55+

Sex: MALE FEMALE City, State: __________________________

Occupation: ________________Email: _____________________

Income: under$15,000 $15,000-$24,999 $25,000-$44,999

How would you define “Green”?

$45,000-$74,999 $75.000-$99,999 $100,000+

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Green Washing StudyDESIGN RESEARCH METHODS

Which products would you consider “green” (Circle One)

Why?______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Seventh Generation Simple Green Green Works

Colgate Herbal Tom’s Natural Desert Essence30%

“Looks appealing”“Most Loads”

“Trust the Brand”

30%

“Best Ratio”“Eco”

“Small Company”

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PRIM

ARY R

ESE

ARCH

Why?______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Green Works Gain Fresh Awakenings

Green Mountain

Knowing the price, which one would you choose? (Circle One)

$10.99

$10.69

Green Works Gain Fresh Awakenings

Green Mountain

Which would you choose if money was not an issue? (Circle One)

$11.99

Why?______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

30%

“Only a few dollars more, but looks eco-

friendly”

40%

“Most Loads for Money”

30%

“Most affordable”

Name ____________ Age: under 21 21 - 24 25 - 40 41 - 54 55+

Sex: MALE FEMALE City, State: __________________________

Occupation: ________________Email: _____________________

Income: under$15,000 $15,000-$24,999 $25,000-$44,999

How would you define “Green”?

$45,000-$74,999 $75.000-$99,999 $100,000+

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Green Washing StudyDESIGN RESEARCH METHODS

Which products would you consider “green” (Circle One)

Why?______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Seventh Generation Simple Green Green Works

Colgate Herbal Tom’s Natural Desert Essence

Why?______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Green Works Gain Fresh Awakenings

Green Mountain

Knowing the price, which one would you choose? (Circle One)

$10.99

$10.69

Green Works Gain Fresh Awakenings

Green Mountain

Which would you choose if money was not an issue? (Circle One)

$11.99

Why?______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

40%

“Seems to be best for the environment”

40%

“More for Less”

20%

“All Natural/Organic””

Name ____________ Age: under 21 21 - 24 25 - 40 41 - 54 55+

Sex: MALE FEMALE City, State: __________________________

Occupation: ________________Email: _____________________

Income: under$15,000 $15,000-$24,999 $25,000-$44,999

How would you define “Green”?

$45,000-$74,999 $75.000-$99,999 $100,000+

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Green Washing StudyDESIGN RESEARCH METHODS

Which products would you consider “green” (Circle One)

Why?______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Seventh Generation Simple Green Green Works

Colgate Herbal Tom’s Natural Desert Essence

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PRIM

ARY R

ESE

ARCH

Why?______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Which product is your eye drawn to first? (Circle One)

How would you define “Going Green”?

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME!Printed on 100% Recycled Paper

45%

8%

2%

30% 5

Why?______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Which product is your eye drawn to first? (Circle One)

How would you define “Going Green”?

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME!Printed on 100% Recycled Paper

TOP 5 ANSWERS1) using eco-friendly products and lessening your impact on the plant2) recycling and concerving energy3) respecting the environment4) being sustainable5) ecologically responsible

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CONCLU

SION

This research has concluded that green branding strategies have had an impact on consumers’ perception since there is a massive supply answer a demand. Moreover, our fieldwork showed us that most people are aware of the green washing but would still choose the product that sounds or looks more eco-friendly. This movement’s growth has been simulated by a widespread acknowledgment that by simply adding the word “green” a company’s image would improve in the eyes of the public as well as gain market share by reaching out to consumers who are aware of the ecological crisis of our planet. Nonetheless, there are corporation who are trying to make a sincere difference in the environment, and some may argue that they’re doing it for the wrong reasons (financial incentive) but at least they found a way to make money and reduce their effect on the world.

It is understandable that no one, or maybe a few exceptions would change the way they function to a more sustainable one if it’s not a lucrative one. In order for there to be a dramatic shift in the way we produce, sell, and buy our products the government should play a bigger role by implementing strict and precise rules for the manufacturers and advertisers. Furthermore, as environmental concerns have increased and as the costs of green technologies have come down, more and more businesses owners--both large and small--have begun adopting green technologies. All the signs point to those numbers continuing to go up in the coming years.

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WORKS C

ITED

Difference Between Organic

Associated Content

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1008646/what_is_the_difference_between_organic.html

11 Green Companies

Porfolio.com

http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/02/19/11-Green-Companies/

Best Green Companies

Times Online

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/related_reports/best_green_companies/

Green Ranking

Newsweek

http://greenrankings.newsweek.com/

Beware the great ‘greenwashing’ con, experts warn By Erica Berenstein (AFP) Dec 4, 2009

US Chamber Small Business Nation

http://www.uschambersmallbusinessnation.com

New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/opinion/

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THE END

Green Washing A Study of Consumer

Buying behavior in conjunction with ‘Green Branding’

Conducted By:Alex Levin

Omar NaccacheTina Tchamitchian

Design Research MethodsParsons School of Design

Page 37: Green Washing

“Its Not Easy Going Green”-Kermit The Frog