There's a stampede to jump on 'green' wagon

[S.Annadana]

There's a stampede to jump on 'green' wagon


Gillian Shaw, Vancouver Sun
Published: Wednesday, April 16, 2008
When Lush opened its first store in what would become a worldwide cosmetics operation, environmental appeal was not at the top of corporate agendas.

Environmental ethics, eco-sensitivity, organic, fair trade, animal friendly -- these were not buzzwords sprinkled freely in most annual reports or corporate press releases.

Today, it is a far different story. Companies -- from the least likely oil multinationals to a disparate range covering everything from computer makers to coffee purveyors -- are jumping on the "green" bandwagon.


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AN ECO-FRIENDLY BAG EXCHANGE: Christine Verdon of Lush Cosmetics holds open a new bag while Gwyneth Kellii, in a bag suit made from 350 plastic bags, stands beside her. Lush will exchange ecobags for plastic bags on Earth Day outside its Robson Street location.
Stuart Davis, Vancouver Sun

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Font:****"Our company was green from the very beginning," said Sean Gifford, spokesman for Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, which is joining close to 200 other exhibitors at EPIC: The Vancouver Sun Sustainable Living Expo (EPIC - Sustainable living expo - Vancouver, BC, Canada) running this Friday through Sunday at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre. "You can understand how we got a bit bent out of shape when we saw other companies wrapping themselves in the cloak of green without doing anything to change their business."

But paying lip service as a marketing strategy isn't enough. Companies that wrap themselves in the green banner without making substantive and quantifiable change now risk being accused of "greenwashing," a pejorative term reserved for those that are all talk and no action when it comes to their concern for the environment.

Charles Weinberg, professor of marketing at the University of B.C's Sauder School of Business, said there are companies that engage in "greenwashing," but he said the more important focus is on those that are making real changes.

"To what extent businesses are actually changing, and will that have an impact on the welfare of those companies -- that in part depends on how consumers react," he said. "Clearly, businesses are changing. They are changing either because of the general notion that they'd like to be responsible corporate citizens or they want to fill a market need."

Treatment of the ubiquitous plastic bag is an example of the trend, and it is one we see every day. Plastic is the target of Lush's "bag monster," a walking, talking trash heap made of 350 plastic bags, the number an average family of four will use in four months. For an hour at noon today, the bag monster will be giving out reusable eco-friendly tote bags to consumers who give up a plastic bag, an eco-unfriendly product that has a shelf life of about 1,000 years.

"Some products are visibly green," said Weinberg. "If you go to buy coffee, you can see who is using their own mug and who is taking a cup from the store.

"Other things, people can't see. When you're at home, do you wash out the plastic container and put it in the recycling bin, or do you throw it in the garbage?"

Social norms are important, and lead to a larger question, said Weinberg. That is, how "sustainable" will sustainability issues be in business.

"That's one of the bigger questions: To what extent is this going to be a long-term change in the marketplace, and to what extent is this going to be some kind of trend or a fad that has a limited life-cycle?"