And the Greenwashing Award Goes to…

I have to hand it to the marketing people at Dow Chemical. If there was ever an advertising campaign that was further from the truth or done so in a more beautifully scripted way than “The Human Element” I have yet to see it. So I was somewhat relieved to find it on the top of the Greenwashing Index list – at least it is getting the right kind of exposure.

I was first aware of the campaign when I got a special issue of Smithsonian, the 37 under 36: America’s Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences, which is, to the best I can tell, completely sponsored by Dow and filled with print versions of “The Human Element” campaign.

The fact that the publication arrived in my mailbox just prior to a Los Angeles Superior Court found Dow (and Dole) liable in a pesticide exposure lawsuit brought by banana workers in Nicaragua, a legal battle than spanned more than two decades, was not lost on me. It was a carefully timed counter to yet another headline highlighting Dow’s disgraceful environmental and social record.

Here’s a snippet of The Human Element campaign, which is every bit as moving as it is infuriating: