ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the origins of green marketing and credibility issues, refines a typology of greenwashing, and describes efforts to mitigate the effects of greenwashing. In greenwashing, green marketing can become decoupled from green practice, mission, and firm values. This has serious consequences for consumer trust in green claims, especially when firms show slow progress on green performance. The present chapter explores how consumers distinguish between sustainably superior firms and those that greenwash, and further considers how to override the credibility gap in green marketing. One key goal for future research is to understand how to raise consumer tolerance for mixed environmental performance in firms with green purpose.
