Greenwashed Car Ads Make People Feel Good About Polluting

Mazda angered some environmentalists by using one of their icons, the Lorax, in a commercial.

Despite all the hype about fuel efficient cars and the future of alternative fuels, there are few things more harmful to the environment than cars.

But the automakers know if they have any chance of selling cars to consumers, they need to wrap themselves up in a mantle of green. Environmentalists call this marketing "greenwashing" -- trying to make your product look more earth-friendly than it actually is.

Sure, cars are better today than they were back in 1970, when Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson decided we should start celebrating Earth Day every year on April 22. We stopped using leaded gas in cars. Automakers invented and started using catalytic converters -- which use platinum-plated ceramic balls to chemically clean exhaust before it spews out into the air. And states got tougher on smog emissions testing, keeping the worst polluting-cars off the road.

Still, no matter how you dice it, cars aren't good for the environment. They are made up of thousands of highly-processed parts that use a multitude of harsh chemicals. Many of those parts are made on the opposite side of the planet, and need to be shipped across the ocean in giant fuel-sucking ships. And no matter how your car is powered -- by gas, diesel, hydrogen or electricity from a coal-powered electricity plant -- your car is making an impact on the earth.

"The ad industry has stepped up to make you feel better about the things that are not green by making them feel green," said Graeme Newell, president of 602 Communications, a marketing research firm that helps companies figure out how consumers make emotional ties to inanimate objects."That's really what a lot of this greenwashing is about."

The Huffington Post has collected five recent examples of greenwashed car ads. Click through to see some of the worst offenders, plus one from the environmental lobby:

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Comments

[rudy in la]

02:06 PM on 04/28/2012

It takes a lot of energy and raw materials to make any car. The car companies are greener than they've ever been, but making cars will be hard pressed to exist in the distant future. How much can you tear the earth open to get all the minerals and ores it takes to build what is usually a personal conveyance? I admit I've done my share of environmental destruction through former love of cars. ai still own one, but drive it very little. The plan is for me to be car free in 5 years.

[Diesel69]

01:44 PM on 04/23/2012

Tim Hortons got on the band wagon too--but when i bought a coffee it still came in cup that goes in the garbage not a recycle at the store---all lights were on in the store very bright---other than the T-shirts worn by staff tha also cost hundreds of plant to have died to make all these t-shirts which could have clothed needy....There was NO Earth day anything but them using earthdday to profit form....

[Sloggoth]

10:59 AM on 04/23/2012

"But the automakers know if they have any chance of selling cars to consumers, they need to wrap themselves up in a mantle of green."
How can you justify such a ludicrous statement?
Let's get real about going green-it makes sense for businesses and consumers if they can save money or get better performance for doing so, but they don't bother unless it saves them money AND they get thebetter performance out of a product. Less than 3% of all cars on the road are hybrids, and only about 35% of hybrid owners indicate that they would buy another hybrid vehicle. So why not buy an electric vehicle? Well, because they typically have a crappy mileage range and cost a fortune. The new Ford Focus Electric will sell for DOUBLE the amount of the most decked out fossil fuel version of the same car.
Car companies know that they have to create and promote all these fuel sipping or electric vehicles to keep the government happy, but until gas shoots through the roof (and I'm not talking $4 a gallon, I'm talking European level pricing), we run out of oil, or a law is created banning fossil fuel vehicles, people will continue to drive the cars that are the least expensive and gives them what they need (room, power, luxury), even if they aren't as green as the manufacturer claims them to be. Green, at the most, is icing on the cake.

[VOLKS818]

10:50 AM on 04/23/2012

If we are not part of the solution, then we are part of the problem ............
GO GREEN !!!!!
One planet EARTH ............ when we reach point of diminishing
returns, and yes that is where we are now, Mother Nature will
step in like she always does ...........
Hell has no fury like a woman scorned ............... ; )

[VOLKS818]

10:47 AM on 04/23/2012

Nothing new here people ..........
Advertisers representing automobile industry
tweaks and twists the truths to fit their purpose .............
Same for all walks of life and products for the consumers ...........
GO GREEN !!!! You bet !!!!!!
Just remember every action has a reaction ...........
If we all do our individual part, the better for everyone as a whole.
3 " R's " come into play :
Reduce, reuse and recyle ............
We can all make a difference and impact Planet Earth in
a better way ............

[stopsocialism]

10:18 AM on 04/23/2012

So starbucks in a celibration of earth day gives free coffee to 10 million deadbeats that drive their cars to get a free cup of java. What hypocrisy from a so called green company. They wouldnt give coffee to our soldiers in afganistan but will give it to deadbeats gotta love em. Friends dont let friends buy commerical coffee. patronize your local coffee shop and boycott starbucks

[Reverb818]

09:23 AM on 04/23/2012

GET REAL!!!

[beckhart]

07:58 AM on 04/23/2012

First off - If it sells it sells.

Second. Don't be riduculous. Start transporting the fool we consume and the materials we need for survival via bicycle. Get ready to pay $100 for one apple!.

Go live in some mountain and try to survive hunting and planting your own food. You would not last 2 days. Take all your tree hugger frineds and I guarantee you will end up in anarchy and killing each other.

Get real, we need transportation and today there is not viable alternative fuel that is as cost effective as gas/diesel. The car industry is making the best it can under the circumstances.

[TwoZeroOZ]

10:27 AM on 04/23/2012

First, marketing is not the primary point of this article,

Second, the article doesn't suggest alternatives, it only attempts to make readers aware of their car's impact.

[MikeCirka]

12:43 PM on 04/23/2012

I know I really shouldn't bother, but what good is a Shepard if he doesn't tend to his sheep?

1. Yeah, all us hippies would die in two days out in the woods. Because corporations and gone out of their way to kill off any natural, free produce you might find so that you have to buy their vegi's from the grocery store. You think apple trees always grew in nice straight lines on people's farms like that? No, the companies that grow the apples killed all the other apples because you wouldn't buy theirs if you could pick on off a tree two blocks from your house.

2. We wouldn't kill each other. We're hippies, remember? We get along just fine with each other, and everyone else, for that matter, as long as they don't infringe on our ability to live or to do what we want. It's the hardliners in the government that would tear each other apart. Probably over differences in opinion about marijuana policy.

3. There are cheaper, cleaner alternatives that companies could be pursuing. They aren't being used because oil is more profitable. If everyone could afford to drive around as much as they want, pollute a fraction of the amount fossil fuel cars do, AND spend significantly less to fuel up, then oil companies wouldn't have more money than God, would they? (Plus we'd all be a little better off, financially) And we can't have that.

[rracer619]

03:55 AM on 04/23/2012

How is this any different from the sticker stating the estimated mile age one can expect when reviewing a car for purchase. I have a Jeep Patriot that states it can get up to 26 miles per gallon hwy. That's total B.S. And all the sales people bragged it up stating that everyone that had bought one from their dealership were getting in excess of 30mpg. I have yet, even after two oil changes, to get better than 22mpg on the highway. I don't think this vehicle could idle it's way to 26 mpg. And don't bother complaining to Chrysler. They don't care once the dealer has your money. Too bad...so sad. They lied to us repeatedly. It's the American way.

[Ole Fart]

07:04 AM on 04/23/2012

rracer... all due respect to your vehicle choice, but the Patriot is a bad vehicle say most reviews. Nevertheless, most new cars are junk at best.... my 30-year old Power King tractor could win a drag race against your Pat, and it gets 50 mpg on the back 40.

[rracer619]

06:29 AM on 04/24/2012

Wanna trade? LOL. And it was my wife's choice...not mine.

[ABQ-Mike]

09:37 PM on 04/22/2012

Screw the environment. I love cars, big ones! With huge, thumping, gas sucking, pollution belching, tire-burning, made in America, V-8 engines - the way God intended them to be.

See ya later. Gotta go kick a Prius now

[Ole Fart]

07:12 AM on 04/23/2012

Ah, ABQ.... I remember those great "chick magnets"... huge fins, Hollywood muffler, skirts, vibrant colors... and POWER! Remember those wonderful bench seats where your best gal could squeeze next to ya?... hot thighs and a sexy smile ... WOW!!

See ya later... I too gotta kick a Prius.

[Ken Koziol]

08:15 AM on 04/23/2012

Hemi power, the only why to go fast and I mean 426 cubic inches/ 425 horsepower dual 4 barrels with a four speed and 88's in the back, 10.5 in the 1/4.

[czs5056]

09:33 PM on 04/22/2012

I like the ford one, it says what they are doing to make them more fuel efficient with their soy foam. The Greenpeace one I didn't like at all because it was not a "this is what we do to stand out" advertisement it was a "let's bash the competition because they are not like us" advertisement

[CousinMose]

08:36 PM on 04/22/2012

Yet HuffPost is wasting electricity, hosting this nonsense article on its servers, about something we all already know. How about solutions instead of whining? And the point of many of these ads is that cars being manufactured currently are more environmentally friendly (for the most part) than the ones people have owned for the last decade. Not that they will, by themselves, solve the issue of climate change. They are a step in the right direction. However, as other posters have noted, buying a used vehicle is much better for the environment than buying new.

[HazelPethigFan]

09:18 PM on 04/22/2012

I agree about you pointing out that people who write this stuff just whine and have no realistic solutions.

If people want to make a difference, they need to become engineers or scientists to develop new technology.

Personally I loved the story on HP a while back showing a black-diesel-smoke-belching Greenpeace ship protesting oil drilling. Most people who commented on the story saw no irony. That's the sad part.

[sadiemae1214]

11:59 PM on 04/22/2012

NO, if people want to make a difference, they need to go back to horses! Horses only get gas occasionally and their poop is environmentally friendly.

[Gina Parziale]

07:54 PM on 04/22/2012

Newsflash! Ads are sometimes misleading!

While I agree that it is wrong to imply that cars are environmentally friendly, change rarely happens in great leaps. Cars are not going anywhere anytime soon. Steps to make them more environmentally friendly should be encouraged-even though they are not as large as we wish they were.

Articles focusing on the the benefits of creating a better public transportation system and that focus their criticism on companies who are not doing anything to make their cars more environmentally friendly would be more beneficial than this which seems to focus its attacks on companies who, while not doing enough, are at least taking baby steps forward.

[Brigette]

07:43 PM on 04/22/2012

569

[mathme]

07:40 PM on 04/22/2012

Don't worry. Once we burn all of the fossil fuels and return the atmosphere to a primordial state that can no longer support human life, the plants will flourish once a again. Then, after a few dozens of millions of years, the plant material will once again become petroleum and then it will be up to the descendants of the tapirs to work this out all over again.