Green Imaging

Photo by Danny Smith

“Magic Mirror, on the wall, who, now, is the fairest one of all?” This question was asked by the Queen in the 1937 Disney movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

 Let’s assume for a minute that the “Queen” asking the question above is a modern corporate CEO wanting to know how the company is viewed by customers, shareholders, employees, regulators, analysts, and the public. Let’s assume that the “Magic Mirror” represents the screens of our smart phones and computers reflecting the company’s internet and social media image and how it compares to the image of its peers. The real question in our modern world is increasingly, “who, now, is the greenest one of all?”

I challenge you to take a stroll through your local grocery store or even a hardware store or automotive dealership and look for green imaging or green messaging associated with the products being sold. You will find all sorts of environmental or sustainability claims and certifications. Look closely at internet sites and advertisements for both goods and services in the marketplace. Here too, you will find green messaging. Whether a product or service is perceived to be “green” is now an important factor in consumer purchasing decisions. Socially responsible investors are also looking for “green” investment options. In response, the market now provides green and sustainable mutual funds tied to sustainability indexes. Analysts now consider a company’s sustainability performance in addition to its financial performance believing that the two are integrally related. Many companies now publish annual sustainability reports in addition to their annual financial reports and some even issue an integrated report. It should come as no surprise then that companies are trying very hard to have a “green” reflection in that “magic mirror”.

Yet, a company’s green imaging efforts can turn out very badly for them. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is empowered to take enforcement actions against companies who make illegal green marketing claims. Green claims and certifications that are misleading, false, or unsubstantiated can present serious green imaging compliance problems. There are also a host of nonprofit environmental organizations that monitor green claims and quickly label green imaging efforts as “green washing” when they believe these green messages are disingenuous. Try searching the Internet for examples of “green washing” publicized by these groups. Company branding efforts and choice of logos, certifications, labels, and green/sustainability claims must be carefully scrutinized to avoid these potential problems.

I have taught a graduate level course on sustainability in Samford University’s Master of Science in Environmental Management program for many years. In teaching this course I often select a volunteer client where the students act as a consulting firm to evaluate all aspects of the client’s sustainability and benchmark the client’s performance against their peers. These sustainability assessments have typically included an evaluation of the client’s strategic planning, green imaging, management systems, environmental footprints, supply chains, social sustainability, sustainability performance metrics, and sustainability reporting. Our view has always been that positive sustainability performance should correlate with positive economic performance. Over the years we have evaluated a broad spectrum of organizations and provided them with sustainability findings and recommendations that produced impressive results. 

I formed Primarium to offer more in depth sustainability consulting services. We can help you.