Can This Reputation Be Saved?

Hypocrisy,
thy name is Home Depot

For years, Home Depot has been one of those companies that has appeared to embrace Corporate Responsibility for all the right reasons. It was an early adopter of the principles of the Forest Stewardship Council, and has a stated policy to give preference to sustainably harvested wood. It has always been active in the communities it serves, and was an early supporter of affordable housing. Now it has either suffered a major change of heart or revealed its true colors.

Unbeknownst to most of us, ceiling fans can be found pushing air around in at least a third of all homes in America. Seeing a major opportunity for energy savings, a group of appliance manufacturers got together and suggested that energy efficient standards for ceiling fans might be a good thing. A number of state legislatures took up the cause and at the moment there are a dozen or so bills pending that would save buckets of energy and move the industry towards a much more energy efficient future. The people behind these bills were not necessarily tree huggers or radicals; many of the ideas came from the industry itself.

But along comes Home Depot, which sells about half of all ceiling fans in America and had originally agreed to support standards. In a dastardly switcheroo, HD put a sizeable chunk of change behind lobbying to put language into a new national energy bill that would set less stringent standards, and that would supercede the state bills now pending. Surprise, surprise, its hometown congressman, Rep. Nathan Deal, (R-Ga), was the first to offer an amendment which insured that the standards were kept to a minimum. Essentially, the Home Depot legislation ensures that fans remain just as inefficient in ten years as they are today

So why the change of heart? Home Depot spokespeople say they are advocating for energy efficient standards, but this is pure corporate-speak.

Turns out it was the second amendment to an energy bill designed specifically to help Home Depot. In the tax bill last year, Congress eliminated the tariff on imported ceiling fans -- a measure worth about $22 million to Home Depot. So it should come as no surprise that Home Depot is one of the most generous corporations in Washington.

It sounds to us like a whole lot of corporate clout being thrown around to protect the bottom line. Sure, there's nothing illegal about any of it, but it does seem egregiously hypocritical. How do you reconcile all the good works that went before with the most recent actions? I'd say its basic corporate greed. HD was clearly riding the "America goes green" trend to increase their market share and brand preference and really didn't give a damn for the environment.

And what happens after a company is shown to be blatantly self-serving and hypocritical? Customers become disillusioned and go elsewhere. Surveys have long shown that that women are more environmentally aware than men, and Home Depot's biggest competitor, Lowe's, is already much more popular with women than with men. If I were the communications director for Lowe's, I'd be side-by-side with the ACEEE shouting on the steps of Congress. Since I'm not, I think I'll just go check out the new Lowe's. Bye-bye Home Depot: your good reputation was nice while it lasted.

I told this story over the weekend to my cousins and there are now at least 15 people who won't go to Home Depot any longer.

Can HD recover from this? I think the reputation backlash from greenwashing is more virulent than that from other scandals. If it's a company that has always been bad, I don't get so incensed about it. But when you find out that a company you thought was good is really bad, there's a feeling of betrayal that makes you write articles/blogs about it, tell your friends and shout from the rooftops.

HD's recovery time will depend on the strength of the relationships they have with the influentials and their consumers and their communities. To the extent that up to this point they have been generally behaving well, they will be forgiven quickly if they admit and correct their mistake. If they are responsive to protests, listen to their customers, etc., etc., it will pass.

But if they stick their heels in, or if they act as if they don't care for too long so that there is a greater opportunity to see bad news than good, then they will have a hard time recovering. See you at Lowe's.

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