Greenwash

Greenwash is, to sum up, an environmental claim made by advertising, which is a lie, or a distraction, made about people, organisations and products. Industries send out false advertisements, to make consumers believe their products are eco-friendly, which is 'fluffy language'. This is annoying and can also be very dangerous because consumers are purchasing these products without confidence in the claims, as they no longer know who, or what to believe. None of the UK's biggest advertising agencies claim to have any training or guidelines to justify what a green claim is, also there are no evidence to back up their claims.

Thankfully, we, the consumers, can identify the use of these false claims. There are 10 greenwash signs that can be easily identified, these include:

. 'Fluffy language' - these are words or terms that have no clear or real meaning. An example of this is 'eco-friendly'.

. 'Green' Products vs the dirty contender eg. efficient light bulbs, which are made in factories that pollute rivers.

. Suggestive pictures - these are green images that indicate a green impact eg. car adverts that show flowers blooming from the exhaust pipes.

. Irrelevant claims, which emphasise a green product to a non-green product.

. 'Best in class', stating you are greener than the rest.

. Not credible - like 'eco-friendly' cigarettes.

. Jargon and information that is difficult to understand.

. Labels that looks like a third party endorsement, but its all made up, of lies and false claims.

. Out-right lying - totally fabricated data or claims.