Consumers 'wise to green claims'

21 December 2007

Consumers keen to reduce their carbon footprint and use less energy are not easily fooled by marketing claims, it was suggested today.

The claim came from Martin Gibson, programme director at business advisor Envirowise, who explained that consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about the green credentials of the companies they buy from.

A recent report on ethical consumerism by The Co-operative Bank revealed that a third of people now make an effort to find information about companies' reputations.

That trend means businesses are keen to generate all the positive publicity they can about their environmental policies, but Mr Gibson was quick to point out that there is little to be gained from trying to mislead prospective customers.

"If the public finds out that your use of polar bears or other heavily environmentally-loaded imagery of choice in your advertising campaign is gratuitous, then you can expect sales to drop," he said.

Mr Gibson added that it is almost impossible for a company to get away with exaggerating its environmental policies because the green lobby monitors corporate claims closely.