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The forum, in partnership with the advertising faculty of the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication (SOJC), allows consumers to judge for themselves the green claims made by major advertisers.

EnviroMedia principals Valerie Davis and Kevin Tuerff announced the Greenwashing Index from the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Bali in December and called on consumers to submit ads. The first posts of real ads are now on the web site, and consumers are invited to score those ads and post others.

Kevin Tuerff, EnviroMedia President, said:
"We've been witnessing a tidal wave of green advertising over the past year. It's our hope the Greenwashing Index will help eradicate bad environmental marketing claims and, at the same time, shine a positive light on companies making measurable reductions in carbon emissions related to climate change."

What's Greenwashing?
"Greenwashing," a term that has been around for many years, is used to describe a company or organisation that spends more time and money claiming to be green through advertising and marketing than actually implementing business practices that minimise environmental impact.

Valerie Davis, EnviroMedia CEO, said:
"When an ad is posted and ranked on the Greenwashing Index site, it doesn't necessarily mean a company or organisation is not doing a good job with its environmental marketing claims. We're providing a venue that educates consumers on what to look for in green ads and an easy mechanism for evaluating them. Scores will range from 'good,' to 'pushing it,' to 'total greenwashing.'"

The Greenwashing Index
Criteria for the Greenwashing Index were developed by the University of Oregon's SOJC Advertising programme. Led by Professors Deborah Morrison and Kim Sheehan, a group of academics developed and weighted five criteria consumers can use to scrutinise advertisements and determine whether they believe ads are greenwashing by doing any of the following:

•     Misleading with words
•     Misleading with visuals and/or graphics
•     Making a green claim that is vague or seemingly unprovable
•     Overstating or exaggerating how green the product/company/service actually is
•     Leaving out or masking important information, making the green claim sound better than it is.

"The Greenwashing Index has great potential for not just educating consumers but just as important for also educating our future advertising professionals that there's a right way and a wrong way to conduct environmental marketing," said Morrison.

3M is one company that seems to be aware of the perils of not sticking to substance when it comes to green advertising claims.

"I regularly get accosted for disallowing vague claims for a 3M product that competitors are making for similar products," said Susan Price, who visited the Greenwashing Index site and serves as chairwoman for 3M's Environmental Marketing Claims Committee. "I'm very pleased to see a forum where vague and bogus claims can be highlighted and questioned."

Developing sustainable business practices and accurately telling that story is good business. According to a survey released in December by AARP, 40 million "Green Boomers" are more attuned to advertising both good and bad and are very willing to spend money on environmentally sound products.

One visitor to GreenwashingIndex.com said:
"I make it a point to buy green products, and I am willing to spend a little extra if I'm buying something that is supposed to be environmentally friendly.  I don't want to spend my money foolishly, and I don't want to hand my money over to liars."