Spin Doctor Claims Greenwashing Is Dying

by Bob Burton — April 20, 2007 - 5:10am
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E. Bruce Harrison, who began his PR career by helping the pesticide industry attack Rachel Carson and her classic 1962 environmental book "Silent Spring," now proclaims that the era of corporate greenwashing is almost over. In an opinion column, he writes that greenwashing in the 1990's "meant the company was painting over bad stuff with good words. It meant corporate communicators were not to be trusted when they talked green." That doesn't happen today, Harrison claims, pointing to the willingness of groups like Environmental Defense to cut deals with corporations such as McDonald's, TXU and Wal-Mart Stores. He optimistically (or perhaps strategically) writes, "We've reached the place where 'greenwashing' charges no longer hold very much water." However, even Harrison was quick to attach a caveat to his sweeping proclamations. "BP has become the don't-let-it-happen-to-us exemplar, where years of progressive green messaging are hollowed by evidence and events to the contrary," he conceded.

Main Source: 
O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub req'd), April 19, 2007

Comments

We should believe him.... why?

Submitted by Josh821 on April 25, 2007 - 2:52pm.

I admittedly don't know anything about Bruce Harrison but if he has a history of being a spin doctor then I don't see any reason whatsoever to buy what he's saying. I think I'll accept this idea when there is tangible evidence that things have actually changed.

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Greenwashing Nominations...

Submitted by Pamela Drew on April 21, 2007 - 2:45am.

There has to be an Oscar for General Electric who was out in front of the Greenwash with their Ecomaginayry view of the corporate culture, long ago. GE has toxic sites everywhere and as they sluff off the $10 million to finish getting their PCB's out of the Hudson they're selling cancer diagnostics and telling how they clean water. No mention of the fact that the filtration systems were probably part of a taxpayer remediation project for a toxic event involving GE with PCB's or dioxins to begine with.

Next nomination goes to the Koch Family and friendsters at the Aspen Institute. Sourcewatch has a healthy reference for Aspen but here's a newcomer and I have only gotten to the tip of the dirt here. Lynda Resnick married to Stewart Resnick and they've got a whole healthful food sector that they are using power to shut down little organic farmers, cash in on the premium nut and fruit crops favored by organic consumers and kick start the specialty pesticide business.

Resnick's Roll corporation is Fuji water and Telefloral and his friends are toxic. There will be no more raw almonds because Resnick's salmonila troubles in his factory operations ended in law suits. Bet my bottom dollar his pesticide business links to the law for his factory nuts. Here's a link to some of his connections and the first one to Paramount farming has all the law suit and trail details to go from.

http://www.politicalfriendster.com/showPerson.php?id=5220&name=Stewart-Resnick

Since pure food is part of the whole green theme it seemed a perfect fit to me. There was also a PR Spin piece on the 7UP and what single toxin they pulled out of that to sell Roundup Ready, genetically altered, high fructose corn syrup and laboratory flavors as "Natural" and the TV commercial shows a farmer holding up a bunch of dangling 7UP cans like they're turnips, when t for toxins is the only natural connection between the ad and reality.