If political spin doctoring weren’t enough to contend with, conscious consumers need to keep a wary eye out for “greenwashing”. This is the practice of companies disingenuously making their products appear more green that they really are.

A few months ago we raised the example of Organics Shampoo, which implies that it is a lot more orgnanic than it actually is. Tracey Stokes recently blogged that she was surprised that the Albany bio-degradable bread wrapper was not really that bio-degradable when you looked into it.

So here are a few things to watch out for when suppliers are trying to tell you how earth-friendly their products are. Look out for these give-aways, gleaned from the Greenwash Report created by sustainable communications agency, Futerra. According to the report, the 10 signs of greenwashing are:

1. Using fluffy language that doesn’t really mean anything, e.g. eco-friendly.
2. Green products provided by a decidedly non-green company, e.g. energy-efficient light bulbs made in a factory that pollutes nearby water supplies.
3. Suggestive pictures imply the product is green – Organics is a great example here.
4. Irrelevant claims. Hyping up one tiny green aspect, when overall the product is not at all environmental.
5. Best in class – being the best of a bad lot doesn’t necessarily make you green.
6. Just not believable – claiming an inherently dirty product is green: eco-friendly medical waste or cigarettes, for instance.
7. Goobledygook – using information that only a scientist would understand in an attempt to establish  green credentials.
8. Creative endorsements. Making up a third-party endorsement that says how green the product is.
9. No proof – suppliers need to back up their claims with meaningful data.
10. Blatant falsehood – outright lying or fabricating data.

The jury is still out on whether companies do this deliberately or if greenwashing is a result of overzealous marketing messaging. Probably a combination. But the next time you think you are making a green choice, make sure you really are doing good for the planet, rather than just easing your conscience.