With many businesses jumping on the bandwagon, there is the danger of consumers loosing trust and finding it difficult to tell the difference between a organisation with a genuine ethical commitment with one that is ‘Greenwashing'. And is it possible for suppliers and manufacturers to live up to their ethical ideals without a profound change to purchasing practices?

Consumer confidence in corporate ethical behaviour is dropping, with only 18% of 3,000 consumers interviewed feeling that business ethics are improving (down from 21% in 2007) and around two thirds of UK consumers feeling that ‘companies are only out for themselves'.

This contrasts with a marked change in consumer behaviour. Customers are showing much stronger opinions towards what they expect from a company, with 79% believing it is important for companies to treat employees and producers/suppliers fairly by implementing good working conditions and ensuring producers/suppliers are paid fairly for their products.

If consumers want ethical behaviour, but don't believe companies can deliver, how can the manufacturers and suppliers within the promotional industry build trust and consumer loyalty? One way is to come up with achievable ethical and environmental policies. Awareness of ‘Greenwash' is on the up as public scepticism grows. The Advertising Standards Authority recently revealed that complaints about misleading environmental advertising had doubled over the past year. In response, a number of organisations have issued guidelines to help marketeers plan effective campaigns that are not manipulative. It is important in a growing industry that only reliable claims are made in order to build consumers' trust. Given the media's love of negative stories, Greenwashing is more likely to be exposed than a positive story and if a company is found to have exaggerated its CSR claims, it could potentially damage not just its own reputation, but also belief in the whole movement.

Goodwill Communications, a leading ethical PR agency, came up with a list of areas that could potentially mislead customers:

Fluffy Language - words or terms with no clear meaning. Any ethical or environmental claims should be substantiated and defined.

Suggestive pictures - green images that indicate a green impact e.g. flowers blooming from exhaust pipes

Irrelevant claims - emphasising one green attribute when everything else is not environmentally friendly (although any positive changes should be encouraged).

Best in class - declaring you are better than the rest, even if the rest are pretty terrible.

Just not credible - ‘eco friendly' cigarettes anyone? ‘Greening' a dangerous product doesn't make it safe.

Gobbledygook - jargon or information that no one understands.

No proof - a ‘label' that looks like third party endorsement except it is made up. Even if the ethics are true, the discerning consumer is now interested in seeing some evidence.

The Primark documentary highlighted the difficulty of producing fast fashion whilst adhering to an ethical policy. Target driven buyers are sending manufactures conflicting messages; on one hand pressuring them to produce garments faster and cheaper, and on the other telling them they must achieve this whilst paying employees a good wage and ensuring reasonable working hours. This puts factories in an impossible situation, forcing them to outsource work which often goes to vulnerable workers at risk of exploitation.

To stop this from happening there needs to be a fundamental shift in attitudes and this is where the promotional industry has a real opportunity to lead the way. Many of the big brands within the industry manufacture their own products, making it easier for them to work closely with their factory than buyers in the retail market, who often work with an agent or middle man. At Epona, we entered into a two-way dialogue with our supplier to engage them in our CSR agenda. On the ground we introduced training sessions for the factory employees to give them more insight into health and safety issues, employee rights and fair wages. We encouraged our supplier to establish a vertically integrated set up and over the years have helped them to understand how an ethical policy can work for all parties involved.

For more information contact: juliet@eponaclothing.com or go to the Epona website: http://www.eponaclothing.com/

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