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When companies like Exxon-Mobil and McDonalds think green, theyre thinking of cash, not the earth. And after all, what matters to unscrupulous marketers isnt so much the reality of their brand or product, but how the public perceives itwhich often results in greenwashing so absurd, its almost funny. These 15 examples of extreme greenwashing range from woefully ignorant to downright malicious.
McDonalds Literally Greenwashes its Logo

(image via: GreenBiz.com)
McDonalds wants everyone to know theyre going greenish. The fast food monster is swapping the red in their logo for green in an effort to convince Europeans that they care about the environment. To be fair, the company has made some important strideslike using environmentally-friendly refrigeration and converting used oil to biodieselbut this is still fast food relying on distinctly un-green factory farms for their supplies, to say the least.
As GreenBiz.com put it, This strategy is essentially the textbook definition of greenwashing: Promoting green in the abstract, literally re-painting your signage with the color green, while simultaneously making sparse, vague claims about environmental action.
Eco Smart Hummer

(image via: Fail Blog)
Recipe for a whale of a fail: Take one Hummer, the most environmentally unfriendly personal vehicle known to man. Plaster it with images of glistening green leaves and phrases like EcoSmart, which just happens to be the name of your company. Watch your company lose credibility instantaneously, and become an internet laughingstock among the very people you were hoping would become your customers.
Even if this particular behemoth were somehow greener than your typical Hummer, that wouldnt mean muchbut would still be more forgivable than using one of these vehicles to advertise an eco-smart company.
Even Our Store Bags are Disposable!

(image via: The Good Human)
When this New Mexico pet shop decided to go green, they apparently didnt bother finding out what that actually meanshence, their proud declaration that even our store bags are disposable! Though the people responsible for the ad probably didnt mean to deceive anyone, ignorance can be just as badits seriously confusing for consumers who are already not too clear on what makes a product green.
Cover the Earth with Toxic Paint

(image via: Inhabitat)
Want some tips on how to greenwash? Ask Sherwin-Williams. Theyve built an entire marketing campaign around a supposedly green line of paint which, according to Inhabitat, isnt actually all that greenall while plastering billboards with their head-scratching logo that seems to advocate covering the entire world in toxic Sherwin-Williams paint.
Fox News + Going Green = ?

(image via: Ecorazzi.com)
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