Online game targets greenwashing

As most people who follow packaging know, the overall Green movement is rapidly getting stirred into a gigantic soup of euphemisms, false terms, and stretched claims.

Not to say that there aren’t legitimate efforts being put forth toward eco-friendliness by companies of all sizes. But not surprisingly, as the business world discovers the marketing value of being able to call something Green, there are many degrees of “truth” being plastered on things.

According to the report The Seven Sins of Greenwashing, published by TerraChoice Environmental Marketing in April 2009 about 98% of products surveyed were found to be greenwashing.

To help combat the bastardization of the Green movement’s language, TerraChoice has launched an online game to teach consumers about the terms and their potential misuse.

Here’s what TerraChoice says about it:

TerraChoice Environmental Marketing officially launched their first online game, “Name that Sin,” to encourage consumers to learn to avoid greenwashing claims and make smarter, greener purchasing choices.

This game is the first of its kind: designed by Standard Media Services and TerraChoice to increase players’ awareness and knowledge of greenwashing. “Name that Sin” is a custom-built Flash application that challenges players with a variety of multiple choice questions, asking them to identify a legitimate eco-label from a fake eco-label (created by the manufacturer and placed on their products).

Other questions ask players to select the correct “Greenwashing Sin” that a product claim is committing. Ten questions are chosen at random for the player to answer. The game is designed to play more than once, with new questions added each time. As participants play the game, they will learn how to avoid the Seven Sins of Greenwashing.

“Name that Sin” can be played at www.sinsofgreenwashing.org and also on Facebook at: http://apps.facebook.com/name-that-sin/. 

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