Green Options

The question has been on every environmentalist’s mind since Lee Scott announced Wal-Mart’s sustainability initiatives in 2005: how much of Wal-Mart’s green efforts are genuine, and how much are just greenwashing?

Two articles from Advertising Age this week provide some insight. Both pieces examine the relationship between Wal-Mart’s advertising firms and its sustainability initiatives. The first article, “‘Come as You Are’ to Help Environment”, reveals that Wal-Mart’s green initiatives did indeed start as a marketing campaign and [...]

It will take more than promises and glossy marketing campaigns to convince consumers that Wal-Mart is green, a recent study has found.

The largest retailer on earth finds itself the subject of Environmental Leader’s latest study on green marketing. Despite Wal-Mart’s massive green marketing campaign over the last year, consumers still don’t consider the retailer a sustainable company, explaining:

Brands that have spent significant marketing dollars communicating green initiatives such as Wal-Mart and GE are

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Wal-Mart’s environmental initiatives have been a major part of the company’s recent attempts to win public favor. The company has made a number of lofty promises aimed at improving its carbon footprint AND its public image. CEO Lee Scott has announced plans to reduce packaging, improve its truck fleet and “green up” the company’s stores. Up until now, the public has bought it.

But an article in today’s Northwest Arkansas Morning News shows that the company’s suppliers [...]

Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott attended the ECO:nomics conference in California this week. Wal-Mart has been heralded as a forerunner of corporate environmentalism: in 2005, the company announced big plans to “green up” its act. But when Scott was asked when Wal-Mart expects to achieve the environmental goals it set forth in 2005, Scott answered bluntly: “I have no idea when that will be.”

It’s the first time anyone from Wal-Mart has admitted so candidly that the company [...]