The Natural Marketing Institute says that consumers are experiencing “greenwashing washout,” unable to distinguish between companies that are sincere versus those that are promoting sustainability for superficial reasons.
According to NMI Managing Partner Steve French, “While numerous companies are attempting to gain credibility as good corporate citizens, consumers are overwhelmed by the myriad of communications and are, at times, unable to distinguish the legitimacy. Some companies who are doing relatively little …are perceived as just as responsible as those spending millions of dollars incorporating sustainability into their businesses.”
Companies that truly are operating in a sustainable manner need to reach a new level of sophistication and clarity to break through the clutter, NMI says.
The observations are contained in a summary of the annual LOHAS marketing report, which costs several thousand dollars to read in its entirety. LOHAS is an acronym for Lifestyles Of Health And Sustainability, and describes an integrated, rapidly growing market for goods and services that appeal to consumers who have a meaningful sense of environmental and social responsibility and incorporate those values into their purchase decisions.