What is Greenwashing, and Why is it a Problem?
• The following is from a work-in-progress by Melissa Whellams and Chris MacDonald. It is an effort to expand upon a topic that we first explored in an entry on Greenwashing that we wrote for the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Business Ethics & Society (Sage, 2007). In an advertisement in National Geographic magazine in 2004, Ford Motor Company tried to convince readers of its commitment to the environment by announcing the launch of the Escape Hybrid SUV and the remodeling its River Rouge factory. One print ad read, “Green vehicles. Cleaner factories. It’s the right road for our company, and we’re well underway.” What Ford failed to tell readers is that it only planned on producing 20,000 of its Hybrid SUVs per year, while continuing to produce almost 80,000 F-series trucks per month. Moreover, just prior to the campaign’s release, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that Ford had the worst fleet wide fuel economy of all major automakers. Ford’s failure to live up to its enviro
