Green Washing Critique

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International Management: A Critique of Gallicano, T. D. (2011). Critical Analysis of Green-washing Claims. Public Relations Journal. (5)3, pp. 1-15

The author studies the corporate social responsibility of Starbucks Corporation by examining its sustainability record, the green claims, blog posts, comments by the critical public, as well as the response to online criticisms. Moreover, the study’s significance is presented by the fact that it is the first academic study to present an integrated framework for assessing green-washing claims and interrogate the fairness of environmental criticisms based on independent research.
Gallicano (2011) defines green-washing as the use of environmental practices by a company to deceive consumers on the …show more content…
with regard to its plantbottle packaging exaggeration on its environmental benefits without offering proof. With regard to Starbucks, the author noted that the company should recognize the range of quality in the critical public’s responses to its environmental communication. Moreover, companies should not ignore the public’s criticism and should act upon it to enlighten the public and correct them. The study lays a foundation for companies seeking to develop videos and Web content that is geared toward environmental stewardship. Therefore they should base this study as a framework to assist them avert …show more content…
One would agree with Gallicano that it is very easy for a company to face criticism for promoting its environmental efforts according to the framework for analyzing green-washing. Therefore companies should be open to criticism once it chooses to be viewed as environmentally friendly.
One also concurs with the author that green-washing can have weighty negative effects on consumer confidence in green products, eroding the consumer market for green products and services. Moreover, green-washing has the potential of negatively affecting the investor confidence in environmentally friendly firms, thereby damaging the repute to socially responsible investing capital market.
Companies are seen to engage in green-washing due to poor environmental performance and positive communication regarding their environmental performance. However, it takes a shorter time frame for companies to react to the communications about their environmental performance than for a firm to change its environmental performance. Companies should thus increase the transparency of their environmental performance. This would be done in a bid to reduce the incentives to positively communicate about environmental performance thereby mitigating the incidence of
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