Date of Award

4-8-2013

Document Type

Thesis

First Advisor

Advisor: Brude Sanders

Second Advisor

Convener: Professor Villinski

Third Advisor

Reader: Professor Anderson

Abstract

In this paper, I argue that companies who make exaggerated claims about the environmental impact of their products act unethically. The public has become more ecologically conscientious than ever before, and firms have been quick to exploit this new interest to their economic advantage. Many of the claims conveyed in these green advertisements attempt to convince consumers that through purchasing a product, they can create a tangible benefit on the environment relative to similar products they would have otherwise purchased. However, consumers are often manipulated by false information conveyed through explicit and implicit advertising cues. Even from a permissive ethical framework, companies engaged in marketing have a duty to avoid misleading consumers. By engaging in these deceptive advertising campaigns, firms violate their basic duties. According to a 2010 study published by a consumer watchdog group, 95% of environmentally beneficial claims on products marketed to consumers in the United States and Canada contained at least some level of misrepresentation (TerraChoice, 2010, p. 6). Companies preying upon recent positive developments in increasing environmental awareness of consumers are fraudulent, but could also bring about negative consequences for society. In “Greenwashing in the New Millenium,” author Nancy Furlow lists the three major problems with greenwashing: 1) It misleads consumers; 2) It harms the truly green companies; and, 3) It causes consumers to disregard environmental claims in general (Furlow, 2011). As a consumer-driven society, fostering distrust of claims relating to the ecological impact of products could severely impede the future progress of environmental reform, rob individuals of their money, and prevent consumers from accurately gauging their environmental footprint—all under the guise of ethics-based consumption. Because of these harms, everyone in society has a stake in preventing fraudulent messages from being transmitted to the public by ethically remiss businesses.

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