What are the benefits of hiding environmental initiatives aka 'green blushing'?

With environmental issues taking centre stage globally it’s not surprising that a new term - ‘green blushing’ - has been coined by the media industry to describe a corporation’s reluctance to talk about its sustainability policies. Green blushing, technically the opposite of ‘green washing’, has now become a widespread phenomenon.

Go to the sustainability section of any global company’s website and you will see reams of information about its environmental initiatives. But try and find some information about a company’s sustainability efforts and little is available.

Michael Dunn, director of OgilvyEarth at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide in Hong Kong, says that one reason companies are not willing to talk is that they tend to think they need every piece in place before they talk about their green or sustainability programmes.

“What many companies don’t understand is that sustainability is not a destination, but a journey,” he says.

In many cases the challenge companies face while talking about their sustainability programmes is the fear of being accused of green washing - too much discussion of environmental issues often attracts criticism from green groups.

However, as Joe Baladi, CEO of BrandAsian notes: “Being afraid of customer backlash specifically over this highly topical subject is over-reaching. Some clients may not necessarily agree with specific policies or choices, but most - one would reasonably think - would applaud the effort.”

A Procter & Gamble (P&G) spokesperson for Southeast Asia doesn’t believe that his company has been shy of talking about its sustainability initiatives. The spokesperson says that P&G always ensures that its decision to “communicate sustainability and environmental claims is based on the consumer relevance, supportability and impact that our innovations are delivering.”

P&G produces a sustainability report each year and its website has a section dedicated to green issues.

But Dunn points to a challenge facing other firms in their sustainability communications. Many sustainability initiatives are not being driven by, or in concert with, the communications departments so the people running them may not have expertise in getting word out. “So instead of looking for help, they just do nothing or may indeed think that what they are doing is not that special, as they don’t look at it from a communications or branding point of view.”

Baladi thinks the feeling that what you’re doing is “not that special” speaks volumes about the personal lack of confidence of decision makers. “This self-devaluating attitude probably impacts many other dimensions of operations (not just sustainability) and in all likelihood, in an adverse way.”

Some firms cite a lack of interest by media outlets to talk about sustainability. However, P&G has a different take on the subject. “We believe that companies with a significant story to share will and should be able to find platforms to share their story.”

P&G has found that the audience for these communications differs from market to market. In some cases, it feels that consumers in Asia are generally not too interested, while other stakeholders, government, NGOs, and business and trade media want to know more.

So why do companies need to communicate their green programmes at all? Dunn thinks it is pointless to promote it for the sake of PR, but other reasons like attracting green-minded employees or informing business partners, regulators and community make a lot of sense. His advice is simple. “The sustainability area has a lot of watchdogs so you must be careful that what you say is meaningful and above all true.”

Got a view?
Email [email protected]

This article was originally published in the 6 May 2010 issue of Media.