ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the issues for greener communications. It is important to bear in mind that the general strategies and guidelines for communications to consumers will apply equally to communications directed at other Stakeholders, both internal and external. Consumers in research groups have long recognised and criticised the 'green bandwagon', and talked of being 'taken for a green ride'. Consumers have been inundated with the cliched, generic imagery of greening in much of environmental communication: trees, more trees, nature, wildlife and, of course, babies, globes and dolphins. As far as the requirement to 'be understood' is concerned, far too much communication has assumed detailed consumer knowledge or motivation across a whole range of environmental issues. The major supermarket chains are perhaps the best examples of this, battling for the 'environmental high ground', with own-label ranges of 'greener' products, information leaflets, and recycling facilities.
