Web Site Dishes Up Dirt, Exposes 'Greenwashing'

Responsibleshopper.org strives to 'connect the dots'

July 30, 2008
Worried that your consumer dollars are rewarding bad corporations with problem practices? Concerned about greenwashing? Wish there was an easy way to get the dirt on America’s biggest companies before you buy something? Looking for a way to pressure consumer companies you patronize to get responsible and clean up their acts?

A new Web site, ResponsibleShopper.org, promises to do all that, and then some.

The site, producted by a not-for-profit environmental organization called Co-op America, hopes to inform concerned consumers about problem corporate practices, action campaigns and ways to live greener in more than 150 major consumer companies. It ranks companies in 27 industry categories from best to worst based on research focusing on such key issues as human rights, social justice, environmental sustainability and more.

In addition to such usual suspects as Wal-Mart and Exxon, major consumer companies ranked by the new site include such brand-name corporations as McDonalds, Toyota, Coca Cola, Disney, Hanes, and General Electric.

“This is a major step forward for empowering concerned consumers who want plain facts and action-oriented solutions, not hyped-up advertising and glitzy greenwashing," said Co-op America Responsible Shopper Coordinator Victoria Kreha. "Visitors to the revamped ResponsibleShopper.org site will be given considerably more information about how to use their economic clout to demand greater corporate responsibility and tips on how they can shift their spending to more responsible choices."

The site is divided into three sections by company and industry: “Learn” (get information); “Act” (join in campaigns to clean up corporate abuses); and “Live”/Go Green (shift spending to greener/fair-trade practices and companies).

Each company-specific profile in ResponsibleShopper.org contains a listing for consumer, investor, and community campaigns to end corporate abuse of workers, communities and the environment.

A press release from the organization cited McDonald's as an example of a company that might be described as even worse than you thought.

"It is well-known that McDonald’s food is unhealthy but there are many other problems associated with the fast food giant," Co-op America said. "A Chinese group found that McDonald’s violated Chinese labor laws by paying their part-time workers almost half of what the government mandated minimum wage is. In other Chinese factories workers have protested long work hours, denial of paid leave and overtime pay, and failure to provide adequate medical insurance."

"McDonald’s scored only a 22 out of 100 in a Climate Counts Scorecard which rates companies on their commitment to reversing climate change. McDonald’s was part of a lawsuit against fast food companies by the state of California for not warning customers that their french fries contain a carcinogenic chemical," the press release continued.

The organization also made short work of Toyota, widely regarded as a seriously green company.

"But Toyota is not as green as it would like you to think," Co-op America warned. "A recent report by the National Labor Committee linked Toyota to human trafficking and sweatshop labor as well as finding ties to the brutal military regime in Burma."

"One-third of the more than 10,000 workers toiling in factories to produce the popular and fastest selling hybrid in the world, the Prius, are part-time temps who earn less than 60 percent of what full-time workers earn and few, if any, benefits. Additionally, Toyota has lobbied against heightened fuel efficiency standards and was sued by the EPA for Clean Air Act violations," the organization said.

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