The Top GREEN Brands (or a reason to like Walmart)
Posted by Susan Pomerantz on 9/15/11 • Categorized as Green Stuff • • 
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In the U.S., where researchers conducted 1,200 interviews, consumers identified these Top 10 green brands:
2. Whole Foods
4. Burt’s Bees
5. Trader Joe’s
7. S.C. Johnson
8. Dove
9. Apple
10. Starbucks, Microsoft (tied)
One important caveat: Consumers chose these brands from a universe of 45 brands in limited product categories, including personal care, grocery, household products and electronics — which is why you don’t see the Toyota Prius or Stonyfield Farm on the list:
If you want to argue that (1) consumers are savvy, read the first four names and stop. They four are what the researchers call “born green” companies, that is, companies that from the get-go set themselves apart from competitors by touting their environmental credentials.
Seventh Generation makes non-toxic cleaners and household products, Whole Foods sells lots of organic fare, Tom’s of Maine uses only ingredients found in nature in its toothpaste and Burt’s Bees offers earth-friendly personal care products
Consumers get their authencity and they deserve to be on any list of green brands.
Which isn’t the case with Trader Joe’s, a privately-held company that doesn’t reveal much about its supply chain, doesn’t report on its footprint and has been a target of activists (like Greenpeace) Trader Joe’s ranking makes even less sense when compared with Walmart, which ranked No. 20. While Trader Joe’s seems green, Walmart, as a big box store is not associated with being green.
However Walmart really has a green corporate sustainability story to tell, but they are not reaching the consumers with it since much of Walmart’s work has focused on its supply chain, which is invisible to shoppers.
Many smart sustainability consultants believe that Walmart’s sustainability initiative has beens the best thing to happen to the environment in the U.S. in the past 10 years.]
From Greener Design, Mark Gunther
