The term “going green” once started as a trend among environmental-loving people. As this trend continually spread like wildfire, going green is now considered as a movement. There are several organizations that have been created to have an exhaustive promotion of doing acts to help the environment. They continually urge people to help the environment through their programs and they criticize and set campaigns against those who are destructive to the environment. The “green movement” has now been embedded to our culture and its influence will flourish on the years to come.
The business sector has also picked up on this specific movement. However, they are criticized negatively for using this movement to gain profit. Critics would say that these huge business organizations use the going green movement as an excuse to reduce cost. Such acts have been referred to as “greenwashing” (a portmanteau of the words “green” and “brainwashing”). They say that these companies have been embracing the green culture just for the sake of saving and earning more money. Businesses are doubted for being “insincere” when it comes to going green.
It is ironic that such a good cause can be taken negatively when practiced by some sectors. If this labeling continues to persist, people may fully recognize this stereotype towards the business sectors and fall into the belief that they really do not went “green”, instead they want more “green” in their bank accounts. In response to these allegations, companies have used environmental public relations tools to clear out their image and settle the issue once and for all.
What do we exactly mean when we say “environmental public relations”? This term actually refers to the different strategies employed by companies to assure that their efforts in helping save the environment are true. Given that the accusations that they have been receiving have been very negative, these PR efforts can help pacify the people and make them realize that these criticisms may not be true at all. Environmental public relations can be classified into many types. When we speak of energy conservation issues, companies have energy PR efforts. When the issue of pollution is brought up, there is the concept of pollution public relations.
These efforts are exhaustively done to prove to the public that companies are sincere in their acts towards a cleaner environment. While this may fall as suspicious to others, we can never really just pinpoint who is sincere and who is not. The use of public relations is not just to prove that a company is honest to their deeds, it is also an effort to subjugate the recurring stereotype thrown against them.