Green Rankings 2012: Comparing Perception with Reality

When it comes to a company’s “greenness,” what consumers think does not always line up with reality. To find out how companies stack up on this basis, we partnered with Penn Schoen Berland and Landor Associates, who conduct the annual Green Brands consumer survey. The results appear below, ranked according to each company’s Reputation Score. The disparity between the Newsweek Green Score (an objective measure of environmental performance) and the Reputation Score is also shown.

To create the Reputation Score, Penn Schoen Berland (PSB), in conjunction with Landor Associates, conducted an online poll of 8,743 Americans 18 and older. The data were weighted to ensure a representative sample of the U.S. population. The study has an overall margin of error of +/-1 percent. Each respondent was asked to evaluate a random selection of 13-15 major brands, on questions pertaining to qualities of the brand and its “green” behavior. Data were collected about the largest 215 U.S. consumer-facing brands and 36 major foreign consumer brands. PSB then calculated the Reputation Score based on these responses.