Dell vs. Apple, The Corporate Greenwash Wars

Jennifer Kaplan — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:59:23 +0000

Last week, Tom Lauria, Vice President, Communications for the International Bottled Water Association commented on a post about greenwash happening over at Nestle Waters where he accused me of being an anti-corporate type that hides behind ’saving the earth’ to bash businesses because I hate capitalism. My sense is that Tom, and quite possibly others, do not think there is any valid way to criticize green claims made by companies without being anti-corporate and anti-capitalist.

What about when a Dell Exec Knocks Apple’s Green Ads? Is Dell anti-corporate and anti-capitalist because it wants to set the record straight? Dell is currently ranked No. 25 among the Fortune 500 companies and No. 88 in the Fortune Global 500. Since its pretty hard to be anti-corporate and anti-capitalist with those stats, maybe Dell is just calling it like it is.

And as business people, why should we complain about greenwash anyhow?

First, it is not anti-corporate and anti-capitalist to set the record straight on environmental achievements versus environmental distortion. It is every business person’s—from the entrepreneur to the VP of communications at a Fortune 500 company—job to do just that so we do not dilute real environmental achievements.

Second, Bob Pearson, VP—Communities & Conversations at Dell said it well in his blog post:

“…companies who choose to lead have an obligation to be open and transparent. We have a responsibility to engage in dialogue about the environment, whether we agree or disagree with an individual person or group. It all contributes to the greater good.”

Green Options » International Botted Water Association

Dell vs. Apple, The Corporate Greenwash Wars