Greenwashing...

...Ms. Warner admitted to a kind of overall green ennui, an irritation caused by what she called the “relentless greenwashing of products.” “People use the word like it’s the low-carb label of the furniture business, just slapping it on everything,” she said. “A company says it’s ‘green,’ and then you ask about their manufacturing and they have no idea.”
Perhaps that is why Ann Mack, trend-spotter in chief for JWT, one of the world’s largest advertising agencies, has proclaimed blue to be the new green in her list of 10 trends that will shape consumer behavior in 2008. “Blue is a state of mind,” Ms. Mack said. “Environmentalism 2.0 is all about the planet and water. Those are blue images. We’re not saying green is going away — it’s just going to be a subset of blue. And also there are negative connotations to green — all that greenwashing. I think the word has lost a lot of its meaning.”
Another coming trend pinpointed by Ms. Mack is about “commitment and rethinking instant gratification.” “Because everything is so instantly attainable — you can get what you want, when you want, wherever you want — there will be a premium placed on waiting, on thinking twice before you click ‘buy,’” she said. “Custom-made and one-of-kind are rising above the mass-produced din of ‘now.’...

Read the whole article in The New York Times