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During the dizzying period of 'irrational exuberance', companies often falsely pretended that their stacking chimneys were really cyber-towers of artificial intelligence, and projected e-commerce hype during the uncontrollable stock market
boom, creating instant millionaires. Of course, a little while later, there was silence, as the bust created a new chapter in corporate history.

The idea to use recycled paper for the annual reports for shareholders of Exxon Valdez is not new, the art of camouflaging the real issues while projecting honesty and integrity is the goal of every corporation around the globe. There is also a lot of honest work being done on all fronts too, no doubt.

The question is, should corporations and producers of hardcore toxins simply hide behind sing-song, spinning green logos, or should they firmly stand up to the challenge and embrace the tough environmental questions? The current branding industry is already ever so confused with a logo dependant approach that they are forced to re-invent themselves as highly competent image makers hiding behind green masks, to cope with this issue. Is there anything wrong with this? Not really, but the fact is that somewhere along the line, the truth will eventually be exposed; green colored text on green ads, and green colored cars on green painted roads simply won’t do it.

Nevertheless, the current explosive greening message and repaint-to-green movement could be turned into a very good idea in the long run, but not like any typical, short lived and bizarre advertising campaign, and certainly not to become just another version of the happy-go-lucky-green-fad as a self-indulging exercise to fool one's self. The public all over the world is becoming smarter by the day and can read between the lines much better than it could a decade ago, thanks to the Internet and global connectivity, where the truth cannot be sugar-coated forever; this issue craves honesty and demands leadership. Countries of the world could team-up, take the lead role, invent and develop solutions and technologies, which would not only enforce a new boom to new technologies but also improve its global sustainability.

There are some very powerful big and small plans all over the world to go green, as in improved ecology measures, not paint-jobs. Dubai is the first country in the Middle East to introduce 'green building standards' along with all kinds of mega forums and events on promoting environmentally friendly measures, creating platforms for debate and discussions.

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Naseem Javed, recognized as a world authority on corporate image and global name identities, is a harsh critic of casual and accidental naming. He is a dynamic speaker on corporate image and branding issues, and is also the author of Naming for Power. He founded ABC Namebank International, an image and branding consultancy over 25 years ago.
Website: www.abcnamebank.com