Talk:Greenwash
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March 6 '04 The current greenwash definition is about useless.
Wikipedia says: "The term [greenwash] arose in the aftermath of the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992."
Wrong. Try, at least since the May/June 1991 issue of _Greenpeace_ magazine.
From: Jym Dyer (jym@mica.berkeley.edu) Subject: Media Coverage of Clorox's "Crisis Management Plan" Newsgroups: alt.activism, talk.environment, alt.save.the.earth Date: 1991-06-13 17:40:26 PST
"...The _New_York__Times_ has not run the story, and the _Wall_Street_Journal_ may incorporated it into a future story about greenwashing (green-washing is environmentally-oriented whitewashing). The broadcast media has not touched the story.
" Incidentally, Bill Walker's written a splendid story about greenwashing himself, in the latest (May/June 1991) issue of _Greenpeace_ magazine."
This Google search: [1]
returned:
Google Searched NewsGroups for greenwashing from May 12, 1981 to Mar 5, 1992. Results about 5. Search took 0.23 seconds. Sorted by relevance
Media Coverage of Clorox's "Crisis Management Plan" ... The _New_York_ _Times_ has not run the story, and the _Wall_Street_Journal_ may incorporated it into a future story about greenwashing (green- washing is ... alt.activism - Jun 13, 1991 by Jym Dyer -
Re: Sleazy "Green" Marketing Although it is very superficial, and often little more than out-and-out "greenwashing", it *nevertheless reinforces that market trend*. ... sci.environment - Feb 9, 1992 by Alan McGowen -
NEWS & ACTIVISM: Tour Dudeath Protest and Action Alert ... Over 200 million people will be watching this event. What a great opportunity for exposing these greenwashing multi-nationals. More info to follow. Peace. ... rec.bicycles - May 28, 1991 by Jym Dyer - )
Global Greenpeace Headlines (April 26, 1991) ... 1 in Poisoned Water, in Radioactivity, in Greenwashing." Activists also offered Phosphoric Punch, Arsenic-Cola, Radioactive Sparkler and Cancer Cooler to ... talk.environment - Apr 26, 1991 by Jym Dyer - View Thread (1 article)
Doug Bashford.
March 6 '04 I'm not sure what happened to the previous versions of "Greenwash." I show only:
****Revision history *25 Jan 2004 . . Lowellian *23 Sep 2003 . . Lexor (Some NPOVing. Add wikilinks.) *23 Sep 2003 . . Viajero (new article)****
"Greenwashing" seems to have devolved into a confusing vague off-topic skree about the Earth Summit and sustainable development, etc, with an arguable and largely irrelevan
Biased: whatt claim that this was the word's source. Perhaps so, perhaps no. Regardless, other, better versions of the definion, with other examples (generic and specific, (such as "Green Forests Initiative)) have disappeared without a trace. (I authored the original.) Fact is, "greenwash" is commonly used with zero referance nor knowledge of that Earth Summit.
The current definion is so uselss, so Earth Summit-specific, I am forced to delete a link to it I was authoring. --Doug Bashford http://www.psnw.com/~bashford/e-sust-f.html
- Well, Doug, thanks for your contribution, but the great think about Wikipedia, is that if you don't think something is accurate, you can fix it! Your primary research from Usenet and Google is of great help to us. You can help upgrade the article! Be our guest, if you don't want to or don't get around to it, I'll fix it myself. That's the great think about a wiki... --Lexor|Talk 08:37, 6 Mar 2004 (
biased article eg: what about all the efficient products that free markets and new technologies have created like better cars with lower milage and more efficient planes and in fact more cost effective and less fuel intensive everything. i mean the list goes on forever: better logistics and transportation, construction, distribution. in general if it costs less, it uses less fuel and is better, if the industry is regulated. i dont think we'd have a toyota prius with 55 miles per galon under communism
[edit] Examples
I think it would be good if this article had a brief list of examples of 'greenwashing'. It'd need to be carefully written and sourced, to be unbiased and keeping the correct side of libel laws! --duncan 11:37, 8 September 2006 (UTC)
I do not believe the list of the worst offending companies adds to the article, and leans towards a non neutral point of view. G.pilkington-oates 17:51, 27 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Horrible
This is an absolutely horrible article. I know what greenwashing is and this article baffles me. "describe the activity of giving a positive public image to putatively environmentally unsound practices", what does that mean? also, "free markets policies, new technology and economic growth" has nothing to do with greenwashing. It is only about the environment. The description is so verbose and ambiguous to make it unreadable. "Greenwashing is thus a deceptive marketing technique only", that is a clear violation of NPOV. I will be rewriting it, I imaging it will be opposed but i will do my best to keep it NPOV on both sides. Keep in mind the article is suppose to be about greenwashing, not about it being bad. Opposition should be in the critics section not in the main article. ZyMOS 02:42, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
- I disagree partly, I don't think it is NPOV to call greenwashing deceptive. It may be POV to declare that this or that is an example of greenwashing. If it's not deceptive, it's not greenwashing.--RLent (talk) 16:12, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Removed link
I just removed a 'see also' link to Strategic Planning, I think it is not closely related enough to appear as a sole entry. I'm sure all sorts of long-term marketing strategies are part of strategic planning carried out by companies and organisations, but as part of a overall marketing strategy. Maybe it should go back as part of a bigger list, other candidates could be marketing strategy, . And maybe reputation, False advertising, spin, Spin (public relations), Environmentalism, Green brands, Secrets and Lies (Hager), Free-market environmentalism, and so on ad infinitum..
What I cannot find is anything going the other way, eg deliberately accusing a company/org of being anti-environmental, polluting, unsustainable etc.. to damage it's reputation for political or commercial reasons. A sort of 'green smear' or similar. I'm sure it happens (most marketeers morals are inversely related to their salary) but can't find any references.. EasyTarget 09:10, 18 October 2007 (UTC)
ERROR: "99% of 1,018 common consumer products randomly surveyed for the study were guilty of greenwashing" is bad math. Whoever wrote this just added up the percentages guilty of each sin. You can't add percentages of different things that way. It's wrong and misleading. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.97.76.139 (talk) 16:39, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
