Am I Being Greenwashed?

As a woman I am definitely into companies being environmentally friendly, and in fact over 50% of women agree that it is very important to their choice of brands and products.

Well, so far so good.

So how about one of the most un-environmentally friendly product out there; the automobile? In terms of appealing to female sensibilities, car companies are certainly moving in the right direction by talking about electric cars and reductions in emissions, but I am not sure whether to like them more or less.

One of the reasons is that I happen to know that the first electric car was invented by Scottish Inventor, Robert Anderson in 1832. So what happened in the last 180 years? Unfortunately we have been exposed to all sorts of stories including the one about how GM tried to kill the electric car about 50 years ago because it was going to undermine the profits it was making from oil driven vehicles. I also happen to know that despite all the fan fair around the launch of the Chevy Volt in 2010, as is pointed out by Robert Fargo on the truthaboutcars.com the Volt won't be a big seller, it's role will be to change perceptions. So hang on a minute. Basically, what this means is that the Chevy Volt isn't going to do anything to help the environmental or the emissions problem, it exists purely to brain wash me and my other fellow consumers into thinking better about GM.

This seems to be where a lot of companies are going wrong in how they use the environmental angle in their marketing plans. There seems to be a general perception by companies that all they have to do is to throw something out there and call it environmentally friendly, and consumers will come running. However, I beg to differ. I think that all consumers, especially women who are more into the environmental sale, want to be shown that companies really have their hearts - and not just their wallets - in the green game. Unfortunately, our perceptions aren't quite so easily swayed.

It has to be part of the mission statement, not just a sideline to the main marketing effort.

Personally, I am not buying the Chevy Volt - either literally or figuratively.